LGBTQ news and entertainment
LGBTQ streaming platform Revry is launching a queer-centric news show ‘Culture Q’
AIDS activist and creator of the red ribbon, Patrick O'Connell, dies aged 67 https://t.co/dHIhY7ekYn
— PinkNews (@PinkNews) May 5, 2021
Um, this “new platform” is just a blog on a personal web site that doesn’t even have a comments section. It has changed the game back to before 2008.https://t.co/IgaF4ibVqh
— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) May 4, 2021
Donald Trump (image: public domain)
Facebook’s Oversight Board, which acts as a quasi-court over the company’s content decisions, said the social network was right to bar Mr. Trump after the insurrection in Washington in January, saying he “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.” The panel said the ongoing risk of violence “justified” the move.
But the board also said that an indefinite suspension was “not appropriate,” and that the company should apply a “defined penalty.” The board gave Facebook six months to make its final decision on Mr. Trump’s account status.
Sifting through Twitter, it seems most folks were very surprised Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld the decision. Trump released a statement calling the decision a “total disgrace.” “What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country,” read Trump’s statement. “Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before.”
Trump statement following the news from Facebook's Oversight Board upholding its ban on him pic.twitter.com/o6lfGdKYnl
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) May 5, 2021
The Left’s cancel culture is out of control. Facebook’s ban of Trump is just more proof.
Big Tech has a choice: Have the same standards for ALL—or—we look at antitrust laws to limit their monopolistic power.
If they can do this to a president, imagine what they can do to you.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) May 5, 2021
Facebook is more interested in acting like a Democrat Super PAC than a platform for free speech and open debate.
If they can ban President Trump, all conservative voices could be next.
A House Republican majority will rein in big tech power over our speech.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) May 5, 2021
Who is facebook loyal to:President Trump (75 million American votes is banned)-4 Chinese Communist dictatorship sites have 342.3 million viewers. Communism good-Trump bad. Ask yourself where Facebook’s loyalty lies-to a free society or a totalitarian dictatorship.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) May 5, 2021
It's a private company. They have a Terms of Service. They're enforcing it. You live by it. Trump can too.
"A free society" means a private enterprise can run its business the way it wants. If you as a free citizen don't like that, use our free market and go somewhere else.
— Joe Carlin (@joe_nca) May 5, 2021
Donald Trump is no voiceless victim. He earned his suspension from Facebook by spreading dangerous, violence-inciting lies. Our nation is still living with the consequences of the deadly insurrection Trump incited, & there is a clear & present danger that he will do it again. https://t.co/8LWbSDoKbJ
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) May 5, 2021
In this week’s headlines: • Scoring Joe Biden’s LGBTQ wins and losses during his first 100 days in office • The American Medical Association begs governors to let transgender kids be themselves • There’s backlash for Colton Underwood’s Netflix ‘coming out’ reality series and I look back on truly terrible gay TV reality shows • Funny man Michael Henry artfully addresses body image and eating disorders among gay men in his latest short film. All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
From Axios:
Stockholdings by U.S. individual investors increased to 41% of their total financial assets in April — the highest level on record, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription) from JPMorgan Chase and Fed data going back to 1952, including 401(k) retirement accounts:
“Financial advisers and money managers said their clients have grown more comfortable holding stocks as they witnessed the powerful rally over the past year, with some even questioning why they need bonds in their portfolios with yields still so low.”
You’ll recall Donald Trump often (and I mean OFTEN) pointed to the performance of the stock market as a measure of his ‘success’ as a president. Trump also claimed over and over again the market would tank if he lost the 2020 election. Well,… 
Over 400,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported in India on Saturday as the new surge there continues to ravage the country. Forty percent of new cases globally are in India where over 3,000 people a day are dying from the virus. From the Washington Post:
The soaring number of cases prompted the United States to restrict travel from India on Friday. Dozens of countries have begun sending aid to bolster hospitals overwhelmed by patients and short on oxygen.
On Saturday, a hospital in the capital, New Delhi, issued an SOS for oxygen supplies, saying its tank was empty.
Eight coronavirus patients died over the next hour before it was refilled, said S.C.L. Gupta, the medical director of Batra Hospital. The dead included one of the hospital’s own doctors. “We have lost him,” Gupta said.
The 7-day rolling average of new daily cases in India was more than 357,000 on Thursday. That’s five times what it was just a month ago. A tight lockdown last year helped the country avoid huge case numbers, but clearly officials relaxed those restrictions far too soon.
"We are running out of Oxygen. We are in a crisis mode": Executive Director of Delhi's Batra Hospital sends SOS #OxygenShortage pic.twitter.com/Glwo8ORNnd
— NDTV (@ndtv) May 1, 2021
NIKO releases his latest single “Dance Again” (photo: Billie Black)
(image via BosGuy)
Good luck with that. https://t.co/OCnEIUBuXC
— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹 Aziz 🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) April 30, 2021
This is a pretty brutal, but fair, take down by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on the topic of all those state’s currently banning transgender girls from playing sports in public middle schools, high schools, and universities. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice just signed such a bill into law, and Ruhle brings some direct questions to the table. “The law you just signed, bans transgender female athletes from playing on women’s school sports teams,” she began. “Can you name one example of a transgender child, trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school, there, in West Virginia?” The governor was at a loss to do so. “Well, Stephanie I don’t have that experience exactly to myself, exactly, right now.” “No, not yourself,” Ruhle pressed. “Your state. Can you give me one example of a transgender child trying to get an unfair advantage? Just one, in your state. You signed a bill about it.” “I can’t really tell you one, but I can tell you this, Stephanie,” replied Justice. “I’m a coach and I coach a girls’ basketball team. And I can tell you we all know, we all know, what an absolute advantage boys would have playing against girls.” “But sir – you have no examples of this happening,” countered Ruhle. “Why would you take your time to do this? Let’s talk about other things that I can give you examples of in your state. According to US News and World Report, West Virginia ranks 45th in education, 47th in health care, 48th on the economy, and 50th in infrastructure. If you can not name one single example for me, of a child doing this, why would you make this a priority? I just named four things that would seem to me like a much bigger priority.” Justice attempted some lame babble praising girls who work so hard at their sports and they shouldn’t be disadvantaged by trans girls participating. He also said he thinks “there are only 12 kids in our state that are transgender-type kids.” Ruhle wasn’t impressed. She ended the segment with this coup de grâce: “Please come back, when beyond anecdotal feelings as a coach, you can show me evidence where those young women are being disadvantaged in your state because I can show you evidence how ranking that low in education is a disadvantage for young women and men in West Virginia.” Annnnnnd, curtain. Watch the exchange below.
Josh Duggar (mugshot via Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
Josh Duggar, the former reality TV star from TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” has been charged by indictment in Arkansas for receipt and possession of child pornography.
A release from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Arkansas stated Duggar “allegedly used the internet to download child sexual abuse material.”
“One stipulation Judge Wiedermann requested is for Duggar to have a third-party custodian should he be released on bond,” KNWA, a local news broadcaster in Northwest Arkansas, reported. “Also, the residence where he would stay must be devoid of minor children.”
If convicted, Duggar faces up to 20 years of imprisonment and fines up to $250,000 on each count.
Note: Josh Duggar and his wife, Anna, have six children and are currently expecting their seventh. “19 Kids and Counting” was cancelled in 2015 amid the revelations that Josh had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter. Duggar issued a public statement at the time apologizing, but he wasn’t done yet. A year later internet sleuths discovered he had an Ashley Madison account where folks apparently hook up for sex while cheating on their spouses. And this was all while he espoused holier-than-thou Christian platitudes.
And here it is. Josh Duggar was arrested for receipt and possession of material depicting the sexual abuse of children. Stunningly, it appears that praying away pedophilia doesn’t work. pic.twitter.com/Jfo0G533Sl
— Kara Calavera (@KaraCalavera) April 30, 2021
The Duggars made excuses when Josh Duggar molested his own sisters. Now he’s in jail on charges of possession of child porn. That’s what happens when you excuse pedophiles and child molesters. He can’t be in the same home as his own children now. Good luck spinning this, GOP.
— 🌊 Lily Bergeron (@Lily_Warrior) April 30, 2021
Oh man, Josh Duggar got arrested for possession of child porn? What a total surpr- nope, I can’t even tweet that with a straight face. Of COURSE he was charged with possession of child porn because he’s a total creep. Apropos of nothing… pic.twitter.com/UJmqQajnKk
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) April 30, 2021
Ewan McGregor as Halston (via Instagram)
Homophobic POS in Tennessee harasses a teenager for wearing a dress to prom pic.twitter.com/Ftt2a184jX
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) April 26, 2021
(image via Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash)
The economy picked up speed last quarter, shaking off some of the lingering effects of the pandemic as consumer spending grew, bolstered by government stimulus checks and an easing of restrictions in many parts of the country.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the economy expanded 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021, compared with 1.1 percent in the final quarter last year.
On an annualized basis, the first-quarter growth rate was 6.4 percent.
Over at Axios, Nicholas Johnston reports on a research note from Goldman Sachs (titled ‘Anatomy of a Boom’) that forecasts “more than 7% growth in 2021, a sustained pace not seen in more than 30 years.” According to the research note, economists post-vaccine hopes for an economic rebound are “changing from ‘from forecast to fact.'” You’ll recall during the presidential campaign last year, “the former guy” constantly told his followers the economy would tank if he wasn’t reelected. While the stock market isn’t “the economy,” check out these charts tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 for the past four months. 
