Juan Melecio (image via Twitter) Some news items you might have missed: • Edge Media: Juan Melecio (above), better known as gay porn star Antonio Biaggi, finished 5th in a field of 6 candidates for two city commissioner seats in gay-centric Wilton Manors, Florida. • The Advocate: The GOP failed in its attempt to derail the campaign of Democrat Roger Montoya by shaming him over a gay porn past nearly 40 years ago. Montoya triumphed in his New Mexico race for House District 40, besting Republican opponent Justin Salazar-Torrez 56.8 percent to 43.2 percent. • Victory Fund: Todd Gloria has won his race to become the next Mayor of San Diego, California. He is the first openly LGBTQ person and first person of color to be elected to the office. • New Music: Australian superstar Kylie Minogue drops some super-cute disco beats with her latest single, “Where Does The DJ Go?” The pop diva will also be streaming a live 50-minute performance – Kylie: Infinite Disco – around the globe on Saturday, November 7.
• NBC News: Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials. Defense officials say Esper prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election. • Vox: Georgia now has two Senate runoffs, both to be decided on January 5, 2021, as Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock failed to cross the majority threshold in Georgia’s special election Senate race. Sen. David Perdue (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) are headed to a runoff as well as neither were able to clear the state’s 50 percent threshold. • Washington Examiner: Amid reports Donald Trump might not concede the election, a spokesman for Joe Biden’s campaign, Andrew Bates responded: “The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
Amid reports the president might not concede the election, @JoeBiden spokesman @AndrewBatesNC says in part: “The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
L-R Donald Trump, Joe Biden (screen capture, campaign photo) As of 10 am today, this is the state of play in the race for the presidency via the New York Times:
Mr. Biden, who was winning the popular vote by more than four million votes and has already won 253 electoral votes, pulled ahead of Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania by about 12,000 votes on Friday afternoon. If his lead holds — and it is expected to — the state’s 20 electoral votes would vault him past the threshold to win the election.
In Georgia, his lead was so narrow that state officials said a recount was inevitable.
In Arizona, Mr. Biden maintained his lead as election officials continued to plow through tens of thousands of ballots from Phoenix and its sprawling suburbs. His advantage shrank slightly, but not by as much as Republicans had hoped.
In Nevada, Mr. Biden nearly doubled his lead Friday to around 20,000 votes.
Mr. Biden had already begun to project the image of a man preparing to assume the mantle of office on Thursday, meeting with his economic and health advisers to be briefed on the coronavirus pandemic. He also urged the public on Thursday to show a “little patience” as the vote-counting in battleground states continued.
Note – one media outlet, Business Insider (working with Decision Desk HQ) has called the race for Joe Biden. (graphic via NY Times)(graphic via NY Times)
Mike Taveira (photo: David-Simon Dayan) Some news items you might have missed: • CNBC: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case concerning the rights of LGBTQ Americans on Wednesday morning in a dispute that advocates are warning could pierce holes in the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Arguments, which will take place just a day after the presidential election, will mark the first major fight to come before Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was sworn in a week ago. • Instinct Magazine: Taiwan held one of the few Pride Parades this year as nearly 130,000 people gathered to march, dance, and visit a Rainbow Market of 100 LGBTQ-owned or supportive businesses/organizations. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, other countries have gone without Pride events this year, but Taiwan has not had a reported diagnosis of COVID-19 since April. In total, the country has had only 554 recorded cases and only seven deaths nationwide. • Out Music: Out recording artist Mike Taveira (top image) offers his new single, “Karma.” An uber-catchy pop-bop groove, Taveira calls the track “the breakup anthem for anyone who feels like their ex has yet received the karma they deserve.” “I do believe in karma and I do believe she is coming,” says Taveira. “She just likes to wait for the perfect timing and I was impatient, which led to the song.”
• The Advocate: Parliament House, the iconic Orlando nightclub that has been serving central Florida’s LGBTQ+ population for 45 years, is closing, though the owners say it’s not a permanent closure. In a Facebook post, they tried to get the money for much-needed renovations, but they sadly couldn’t reach their goal. • The Signorile Report: Michelangelo takes a look at what it will take for a President Joe Biden to get The Equality Act passed in his first 100 days as promised. • KIT212: I’m catching up on Kenneth’s weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications like DNA Magazine’s 250th issue featuring cover model Julian Gabriel (below). (image via DNA Magazine)
Four months ago, the Texas Secretary of State approved drive-thru voting, informing Harris County (we’re talking Houston) election officials that they could use it for the general election. Now, after over 117,000 voters in the heavily Democratic county have used the process, Texas Republicans have asked a federal judge to declare the practice ‘unconstitutional’ and throw out all of those ballots. From Mark Joseph Stern at Slate:
Because Texas strictly limits mail-in voting, Harris County—which has a population of over 4.7 million people—has sought to make in-person voting safer during the pandemic. Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, who runs the county’s elections, established 10 drive-thru voting locations for the 2020 general election.
Drivers pull into a large tent, where election officials confirm their identity, then give them privacy to vote. The process has proved wildly popular.
Harris County raised the idea of drive-thru voting in June, and Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs promptly approved it. The county tested it in July and approved it in August. Yet Republicans did not contest drive-thru voting in court until Oct. 15, two days after the start of early voting.
On that day, the Harris County Republican Party, joined by several GOP operatives, asked the Texas Supreme Court to halt drive-thru voting. The court, which is entirely Republican, refused, over a single dissent.
So Republicans ran to federal court. On Wednesday, they asked U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to declare drive-thru voting unconstitutional and void every ballot cast this way.
Judge Hanen has scheduled an emergency hearing on Monday. Over 117,000 Texans cast their votes via drive-thru venues because it was approved. Now, Texas Republicans want those votes thrown out a day before the election?
Judge Hanen has already scheduled an emergency hearing for Monday morning—without even giving Harris County a chance to file a response brief. This, too, is extremely concerning. It looks like he may be rushing to throw out 100,000 disproportionately Democratic votes.
Kyle Rittenhouse (image via Twitter) Some news items you might have missed: • Journal-Sentinel: An Illinois judge on Friday denied Kyle Rittenhouse’s (above) request for release and ordered him extradited to Wisconsin, where he faces serious charges in Kenosha County for killing two people and wounding a third during unrest in Kenosha in August. • Reuters: The U.S. State Department has (finally) backed down from legal battles over the citizenship of gay couples’ children who were born to surrogates overseas. The cases involved a family whose daughter had been born to a surrogate in Canada and a family whose daughter was born to a surrogate in England. The gay couples had sued the State Department, claiming that their sexuality had led to the rejection of their children’s applications for passports. • Out Music: Ben Hazlewood’s “The Way You Do” is a loping, easy listen that reflects the deep emotional ties we share with those we love. Hazlewood wrote the song for his nan and expresses that “love isn’t limited to romance,” but also for those you care about deeply including family and friends. Raised on artists like Jim Morrison, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, and Janis Joplin, Hazlewood delivers powerful, plaintive vocals amid an emotional guitar-driven soundscape. I like. Follow Hazlewood on Instagram here.
• Bloomberg News: Through Thursday, over 9 million Texans had cast ballots in early voting – that’s more than the 8.97 million votes cast in total in 2016, a record high at the time. Neither party knows who will benefit most from the surge, but it has put the reliably Republican state in play as a full-out battleground in the campaign’s final days. • Yahoo News: Joe Biden would hammer Donald Trump in the US presidential election if it were Europeans heading to the ballot box. Among 5 countries surveyed — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain — the Germans were the most enthusiastic Biden supporters, with 66% saying they would back the Democrat if allowed to vote. Only 8% of Germans said they would vote for Trump. Trump’s best score was in Italy, where 15% would make their mark for the GOP candidate. • Twitter: On the campaign trail in Wisconsin tonight, Donald Trump perpetuated the myth that we somehow lost the ability to say ‘Merry Christmas’ at some point – and HE brought it back!?! Trump also told his sheep followers that there will be ‘no electricity’ if Joe Biden wins the presidency…?
“There will be no heating in the winter, no air conditioning in the summer, and no electricity” — Trump on what will happen if Biden wins pic.twitter.com/xh5rytolgv
7-day rolling average of cases as of Oct. 28 (graphic via Washington Post) Coronavirus cases are on the rise in every battleground state with just four days to the presidential election. From the Washington Post:
Coronavirus cases are surging in every competitive state before Election Day, offering irrefutable evidence against President Trump’s closing argument that the pandemic is nearly over and restrictions are no longer necessary.
In the 13 states deemed competitive by the Cook Political Report, the weekly average of new cases reported daily has jumped 45 percent over the past two weeks, from fewer than 21,000 on Oct. 14 to more than 30,000 on Oct. 28.
Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania have all hit new weekly average highs in recent days, and in Florida and Georgia, case counts are growing again after having fallen from summer highs.
According to the COVID Tracking Project, there are currently 46,905 Americans who are hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number since August 14, and up about 50% from a month ago. Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to hold campaign rallies across the nation where he tells supporters the U.S. has “rounded the corner” regarding the coronavirus. More at the Washington Post.
BREAKING—US has now surpassed 9,000,000 cases of #COVID19.
Accelerated since last month—newest mil only took 14 days.
1 mil April 28 2 mil June 10 3 mil July 7 4 mil July 23 5 mil Aug 8 6 mil Aug 30 7 mil Sept 25 8 mil Oct 15 9 mil Oct 29 pic.twitter.com/IxN5SJnsBe
"What happens is, you get it — if you get it, stay away, if you get it, you're gonna get better. And then you're gonna be immune. And it's a whole thing, and it goes away." — Trump makes a bunch of irresponsible claims about coronavirus pic.twitter.com/KOpojYI375
Out former college football player Jake Bain (image via Instagram) Jake Bain, the Missouri high school football star who made headlines in 2017 after coming out as gay, and later became one of the first openly gay Division I team athletes in history when he matriculated at Indiana State in 2018, issued some disturbing allegations in his Instagram Stories on Thursday. Bain, who retired from football after his freshman year, posted a statement alleging that his father – who has apparently worked as a high school basketball coach for years – had abused Bain and “many others.” Bain’s statement via Instagram:
“I have in my possession over 20 pages of court documents, detailing the abuse that me, and many others endured at the hands of my father. To protect the confidentiality of those who are mentioned in these documents, I won’t release them to the public.”
“However, I believe that [it] should be public knowledge that while working as a high school basketball coach at both Westminster Christian Academy, and MICDS, two well known private schools in Saint Louis, MO, my father was found to be showering with other students, emailing inappropriately with students about things a coach or teacher should never be talking to kids about, and would have students to his house for ‘sleepovers.’”
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that none of this behavior is appropriate for any adult to be displaying. To my knowledge, my father is still coaching basketball at the AAU level in Saint Louis, so I urge anyone who is either employing him to coach, or allowing him to use their facilities, to please stop, so this behavior does not continue.”
(screen capture via Instagram/Jake.Bain) Last May, Bain shared that he is a survivor of sexual abuse, writing, “To those of you who are victims of sexual abuse, I’m with you. I know how you may be feeling. I want you to know that you are not alone.” “Waking up to a sweat-filled bed, left with the fleeting thoughts and feelings of what we had to endure and carry on with us,” he continued. “These scars of which I fear most, are also a constant reminder that I got through it. I persevered. We are warriors, and just when you think you can’t do it anymore… fight a little longer. Reach out to others for help. Don’t be afraid to feel vulnerable. Know that this was not your fault, and does not define who you are.”
After coming out in 2018, Bain went on to famously take his boyfriend to the prom and even appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show where the talk show host honored him for his courage in coming out. Bain’s post did not identify his father by name, but a report at Kenneth in the (212) said his father is Eric Bain. “Although the allegations are somewhat fuzzy — where are these court documents filed? are the police involved? is there an ongoing investigation of his father? — they are clearly disturbing,” wrote Kenneth. “According to Eric Bain’s LinkedIn, he currently works in training at the St. Louis Basketball Academy.” Jake Bain recently came out again, this time as pansexual. He’s currently pursuing a degree in sports psychology. Here’s the report from 2018 when Bain came out as gay.
(screen capture via CBS News) Some news items you might have missed: • USA Today: A new report says five states – Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Oregon – are at a high risk for activity by armed groups of civilians around the November 3 election. The report lists nine, large multistate right-wing groups that could present problems to Pennsylvania and other states, including Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers. • The Advocate: A dispute between two people inside the popular gay bar Paco’s Ranch in Puerto Vallarta escalated into a physical altercation that spilled outside of the Romantic Zone establishment. One left, returned with a gun, and shot two men. • Statista: Although Donald Trump has claimed his 2016 win “was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan,” his triumph was not the landslide he pretends. In fact, he won fewer electoral votes than all but one president since Ronald Reagan. (graphic via Statista) • Page Six: Willie Garson, who played Carrie Bradshaw’s bestie “Stanford Blatch” on the hit series Sex and the City recently revealed why he stayed in the closet as a straight actor. “For years I didn’t talk about it because I found it to be offensive to gay people.” • OUT: International pop star Ricky Martin says “as a Latino, as a gay man, and as someone ‘married to an Arab’ — his husband is Syrian painter Jwan Yosef — he can’t imagine voting for Trump.” Martin added that seeing news about ‘Latinos for Trump’ is “really scary.” • Twitter: A Trump supporter in California was caught on video threatening a female motorist outside a polling place this past weekend. In the clip, the man walks in front of the woman’s car and appears to take a picture of her license plate. “We got your plates, baby. We know who you are now. You’re gonna vote for Trump whether you like it or not. You got no choice. You cannot resist Trump. We got you. We fucking got you.” #VoterIntimidation
This crazy Trump supporter was last seen at a MAGA rally in Beverly Hills, CA taking photos of people’s license plates and trying to intimidate them. pic.twitter.com/Bxnn9n9S96
Self-described racist Paul Ng (screen captures)TMZ reports that an Arizona man, identified as Paul Ng, told a Black man shooting an episode for his podcast on a public street that he was in a “no n*gg*r zone.” Andre Abram was recording an episode for his podcast in Old Town Scottsdale, AZ last Friday with his cameraman, who’s also African-American. As they were recording, they noticed Ng scoping them out. Abram’s camera was rolling when Ng strolled over and asked the two men what they were doing. Ng explained that “we’ve had problems here,” before going on to admit that he is, in fact, a racist. Abram calmly explained that they were not, in fact, in a “no n*ggr zone,” but Ng continued to ask Abram questions about where he’s from and why he’s there. Abram didn’t escalate the situation, but eventually police tracked Ng down at his home where he was cited for disorderly conduct. It turns out Ng was a Realtor with Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty – “was” because the real estate office fired Ng upon learning of his abhorrent behavior. The broker there also recommended Ng’s state license be revoked. And there you have it.
This is an anti-Black racist Asian man named Paul Ng of Scottsdale AZ..He was fired from his job after he tried to provoke an altercation with a Black man.
Donald Trump (screen capture) So. Much. Winning. With talks for a fiscal stimulus package stalled and coronavirus infections spiking in states across the U.S., the stock market tanked to the tune of 900 points on Monday. From CNBC:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 900 points lower, or 3.2%, and was headed for its biggest one-day loss since June 11. The S&P 500 slid 2.7% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.5%.
Monday’s decline erased the monthly gains for the Dow industrials.
The decline came amid a record surge in new coronavirus cases in the U.S. The country saw more than 83,000 new infections on both Friday and Saturday after outbreaks in Sun Belt states, surpassing a previous record of roughly 77,300 cases set in July, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The data also showed the country has reported an average of 68,767 cases per day over the past seven days, a record.
