Category: News

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InstaHunk Round-Up: Weekend Edition

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ3SQ1UjkFA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend as the U.S. celebrates its birth. Checking in with some of our favorite Instagram accounts, we begin with Las Vegas entertainer Davide Zongoli (above) who sent his July 4th greetings from the desert. Next, David Torres shared the spirit of the Independence Day in his own unique way: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CQ6RQeXAWS0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Hunter Harden shared his favorite red, white and blue outfit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ5Vu_BteIK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Writer in Red spent Friday night freeing the fur: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ1NK4yhmM-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Fitness guy Ramses Principe is “living not wishing” at the Éteka Slow Beach in Colombia: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ4ZPdGDn-S/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Max Emerson got pumped up on his new patio: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwJgAhlB1i/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Nyle DiMarco did what he does best: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ3zkxLsl5R/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Matthew Camp was being a #hornylittledevil. By the way, when visiting Camp’s Instagram account, make sure you read the hashtags… 😉 https://www.instagram.com/p/CQrNNQ9p7A6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Thanks to Instinct writer Corey Andrew for this live clip of Spiderman in action in NYC: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ4023JhKOj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Antonio (aka fitnesspapi_) struck a pose: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ6lqp3JTqV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Ignacio Pérez Rey got all kissy face with blogger Pepê Oliveira: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ58GWHHgH4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Jett Hallum hung up his gas station uniform: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQtshwVsoHC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Steve_in_LA with his guy Tobi is a definite smile-maker: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ1W39yB9oh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link If you haven’t been to Palace South Beach – what are you waiting for? https://www.instagram.com/reel/CQ3j7RTJfWj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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Happy 4th Of July 2021!

Wishing everyone a fun and frolicsome 4th of July as the country recognizes the birth of our nation. We’ve come a ways from last July 4th, when travel was way down and gatherings were – at least supposed to be – kept within our pandemic bubbles. This year, thanks to COVID vaccines, holiday celebrations can be safer and larger. Here’s some stats on how far we’ve come: • According to the CDC, 67% of U.S. adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose. Among Americans 12 and older, 64% have gotten at least one shot. • According to the results of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index a year ago versus today in regard to how folks feel about returning to pre-coronavirus lives:

June 26-29, 2020: Large to moderate risk – 70%, Small to no risk – 29%

June 25-28, 2021: Large to moderate risk – 28%, Small to no risk – 72%

• AAA projected holiday travel this weekend will be almost back to pre-pandemic levels —  just 2.5% lower than in 2019. • An expected 43.6 million Americans will drive to their destinations, the highest on record for this holiday and 5% more than the previous record set in 2019. • And air travel is definitely bouncing back – TSA reports it screened more people on July 1 and 2 than it did on those dates in 2019! Have an awesome holiday and make sure you tune in for PBS’ A Capitol Fourth tonight!

I’ll be holding down the fort at my backyard today 🙂

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Video Of Officer Playing Music To Avoid Being Posted To Internet Goes Viral

Sgt. David Shelby (screen capture)
Sgt. David Shelby (screen capture)
From the Washington Post:

When James Burch and several activists began filming a sheriff’s deputy during a confrontation on the Alameda County courthouse steps in Oakland, Calif., this week, the officer caught the group by surprise. He pulled out his phone and started blaring Taylor Swift’s 2014 hit single “Blank Space.”

Confused, Burch asked: “Are we having a dance party?”

After he and the other activists pressed the officer about what he was doing, the deputy — identified by local media as Sgt. David Shelby — said, “You can record all you want, I just know it can’t be posted on YouTube.”

He was referring to YouTube’s automated copyright system, which detects and removes unauthorized protected material — such as a popular song — from being uploaded to the Internet.

Things didn’t quite go according to the officer’s plan as the clip has amassed over more than 848,000 views on Twitter at this writing. Plus, a version did indeed make its way to YouTube that has garnered more than 573,000 views so far. I saw the original tweet when it happened and wondered, “What is it the officer didn’t want recorded?” He didn’t seem to be doing anything wrong, so…why the digital confrontation? He made himself look shady when it’s not clear he was. #fail “The officer was trying to be a little smart, and it kind of backfired,” Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County sheriff’s office, told the Washington Post. “Instead of censoring it, it made it go viral.” According to Kelly, Shelby still works for the sheriff’s department but the issue has been referred to internal affairs for review. While there’s no policy prohibiting an officer from doing what Shelby did in the video, “there is a code of conduct on how we should carry ourselves in public,” Kelly said. The spokesman added that the sheriff’s office does not “condone” the deputy’s behavior. “This is not a good look for law enforcement,” Kelly said. There is a “serious lesson learned here.”

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Brazil: Governor Comes Out In Advance Of Presidential Campaign

Eduardo Leite of Brazil (image via Facebook)

Eduardo Leite, governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and a 2022 presidential hopeful, has come out as gay.

Leite, who hopes to challenge his country’s virulently anti-LGBTQ leader, President Jair Bolsonaro, in next year’s election, came out during an interview with Brazil’s top broadcaster, TV Globo.

“I’m gay — and I’m a governor who is gay rather than a gay governor,” Leite shared with viewers. “Just as Obama in the United States wasn’t a Black president, but a president who was Black. And I’m proud of this.”

Leite, a member of the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party (SDB), went on to say he has nothing to hide and wished that sexual orientation was a “non-issue” in Brazil.

The 36-year-old’s announcement was met with much support from the worlds of Brazilian politics and LGBTQ activism.

The Guardian reports Toni Reis, a longtime advocate of LGBTQ rights in the South American country, wrote on social media, “You’ve made history.”

“I know the pain the prison of the closet represents, particularly in a conservative environment like politics,” tweeted Fabiano Contarato, Brazil’s first openly gay senator elected in 2018. “Everyone must find the right moment for this gesture. Be happy and follow your great work: life will be lighter!”

Leite responded to the public show of support on Twitter writing, “The countless messages of care and support I am receiving make me absolutely safe. Love will conquer hate! Thank you very very much everyone!”

Amid the positive responses, however, were some who noted that Leite eventually came to publicly support Bolsonaro in his 2018 presidential campaign on the eve of the election although he disagreed with Bolsonaro on several policies including the treatment of minorities.

At the time, Leite called his decision a “democratic gesture.”

According to The Guardian, Jean Wyllys, the first out member of Brazil’s congress to fight for LGBT+ rights, noted that Leite has yet to disavow his previous support for Bolsonaro.

“This chap had many opportunities to defend the LGBT community and he didn’t,” said Wyllys. “On the contrary … he was a Bolsonarista until yesterday – and he’s probably still one today, because at no point has he retracted his support for Bolsonaro.”

“So I don’t celebrate this,” added Wyllys. “I’m not part of this team of people who are commemorating this chap coming out of the closet as if it was some great accomplishment for Brazil’s LGBT+ community.”

(source: The Guardian)

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Capitol Rioters Are Erasing Social Media Posts As Fast As They Can

January 6 invasion of the Capitol building

(screen capture via YouTube)
Remember all those social media posts where the Capitol insurrectionists were all sooooo proud they did something…? From the AP:

They flaunted their participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on social media and then, apparently realizing they were in legal trouble, rushed to delete evidence of it, authorities say. Now their attempts to cover up their role in the deadly siege are likely to come back to haunt them in court.

An Associated Press review of court records has found that at least 49 defendants are accused of trying to erase incriminating photos, videos and texts from phones or social media accounts documenting their conduct as a pro-Donald Trump mob stormed Congress and briefly interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

Experts say the efforts to scrub the social media accounts reveal a desperate willingness to manipulate evidence once these people realized they were in hot water. And, they say, it can serve as powerful proof of people’s consciousness of guilt and can make it harder to negotiate plea deals and seek leniency at sentencing.

Funny how that works… Did they really think they’d get their anti-American jollies done and not have anything happen to them??? More than a dozen Capitol rioters have already pleaded guilty, out of more than 510 defendants. And prosecutors are filing new cases at a steady clip.

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News Round-Up: July 2, 2021

Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey

Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey
Tyler Posey (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • NME: Former Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey says he’s still figuring out his sexuality. “I’ve been with everybody under the sun, and right now I’m in the best relationship that I’ve ever been in with a woman, and she’s queer too. She’s helped me realize that I fit under the queer umbrella and that I’m sexually fluid, I guess.” • them: Around 1,000 people made history this week by taking part in the first-ever Pride event at one of America’s most conservative Mormon colleges. On Monday, current and former students of Brigham Young University (BYU) gathered at Provo, Utah’s Joaquin Park before walking a mile to Kiwanis Park, a grassy expanse just east of campus. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ1IlrXhI19/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • PBS: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that Andrew Bruck would be appointed acting attorney general for the remainder of Murphy’s term. Bruck will be the first openly gay attorney general in state history. • Instinct Magazine: Gilead Sciences is looking to get its ‘once every six months’ HIV inhibitor injection, Lenacapavir, approved by the FDA. • The Advocate: Sha’Carri Richardson, who made headlines recently for thanking her girlfriend after qualifying for the Olympics, will now miss at least part of the games due to a positive marijuana test.

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SCOTUS Declines To Hear Appeal For Anti-LGBTQ Florist

Gay couple dances after getting married
Gay couple dances after getting married
(stock image via Depositphotos)

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by anti-LGBTQ florist Barronelle Stutzman of Washington state who refused to sell flowers to a same-sex couple for their wedding.

Stutzman’s petition is listed on Friday’s orders list indicating the high court had denied certiorari, or refused to take up the case. No reason was given although the orders note that Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would have granted the petition to hear the case. In the Supreme Court, at least four justices have to agree to take up a case.

The decision means the ruling by the Washington Supreme Court will stand.

The sad story began in 2013 when Rob Ingersoll and Curt Freed, longtime customers of Arlene’s Flowers owned by Stutzman, approached the florist for flowers for their dream wedding. Stutzman refused claiming doing so would violate her religious beliefs.

In 2017, the case had made its way up to the Washington state high court which ruled Stutzman had violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws which prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in public accommodations. The florist was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Stutzman appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 wherein SCOTUS vacated the lower court’s decision and asked the Washington court to review the case in light of a narrow ruling in the case of Jack Phillips, owner of the Colorado bakery Masterpiece Cakeshop.

A year later, in June 2019, the Washington Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision finding there had been no animosity involved against Stutzman in the original ruling.

Today’s decision is the end of the road in terms of legal options for Stutzman.

“After Curt and I were turned away from our local flower shop, we cancelled the plans for our dream wedding because we were afraid it would happen again. We had a small ceremony at home instead,” Ingersoll told ABC News in a statement. “We hope this decision sends a message to other LGBTQ people that no one should have to experience the hurt that we did.”

Alphonso David, president of Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement, “The Supreme Court has once again said that critical nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people are legally enforceable and has set a strong and definitive precedent.”

Kristen Waggoner, general counsel for the virulently anti-LGBTQ legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, called the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case “tragic.”

This is the third high profile LGBTQ-related case addressed by the Supreme Court.

In June, SCOTUS issued a unanimous but very narrow ruling in favor of Catholic Social Services (CSS) in Philadelphia which had refused to certify same-sex couples who applied to become foster parents.

The ruling was not the broad ‘license to discriminate’ anti-LGBTQ advocates had hoped for. Instead, the justices found in favor of CSS because the city hadn’t applied its own policy of exemptions uniformly. The decision only applies to CSS and its contract with Philadelphia.

And earlier this week, SCOTUS also rejected to hear an appeal by a Virginia school board seeking ban transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. That decision sets precedent regarding restroom discrimination in schools in at least five states.

(Source: ABC News)

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Jobs Report Shows US Economy Gained 850,000 Jobs In June

Jobs report

Fewer and fewer Americans are filing for unemployment benefits as the economy recovers from COVID The Labor Department reports employers added a better-than-expected 850,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in June. Additionally: • Average hourly earnings have risen 3.6% from a year ago, which continues the trend of the past two months. • U.S. consumer confidence rose to 127.3 – a 16-month high. • The stock market continues strong as the S&P 500 closed out the first half of the year at a record high of 4,297.50. • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that the economy was on track to recover all the jobs lost in the pandemic by the middle of next year.

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Liz Cheney Joins House Committee Investigating Capitol Invasion

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in a masterful power move, has named Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to serve on the select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters. You can’t say it’s not a bipartisan committee when you CHOOSE a member of the other party to take part. From The Hill:

To lead the committee, Pelosi tapped Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee who had authored the bill creating the independent commission.

Pelosi’s other picks are House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.).

House Minority Leader Andrew McCarthy will be allowed to name 5 members to the select committee. Republicans could have elected to form a bipartisan investigation committee but voted that down.

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News Round-Up: July 1, 2021

A French woman has been charged for causing a huge pile-up at the Tour de France over the weekend

Some news items you might have missed:

• Cycling News: A spectator who held up a cardboard sign on the opening day of the Tour de France accidentally struck cyclists (above) causing dozens to crash. The 30-year-old French woman has been arrested and charged with involuntarily causing injury and faces a fine of 1,500 euros.

• Vanity Fair: Following her very public statement last week, Britney Spears’s request to have her father, Jamie Spears, removed from her conservatorship has been denied by the judge overseeing the case.

• WPRI: Chase Allen, 25, of Seekonk, was apprehended by FBI agents for allegedly taking part in the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building. Allen is accused of participating in the destruction of thousands of dollars worth of media equipment during the riots. Photos capturing a man wearing the exact same outfit as Allen show him stomping on cameras outside the Capitol building. He claims he was there to document the events as a journalist.

• JoeMyGod: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noam has literally rented out 50 members of the state’s National Guard to an auto scrap billionaire to head down to the Texas/Mexico border.

• Nevada Independent: Nevada casinos collected a single-month record of $1.23 billion in gaming revenues during May, a stunning figure given that most COVID-19 capacity restrictions weren’t fully lifted until June 1.

• People: Out singer/songwriter Hayden Joseph tells the pop culture magazine, “Mainstream country radio is still controlled by a couple of conglomerates, and they still play one-dimensional country music, all signed by a boy’s club that looks and sounds the exact same.” I wrote about his latest single, “Out,” here.