Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims (screen capture) Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims, an openly gay Democrat, went on an epic Facebook Live rant Wednesday night calling out state Republicans for covering up a GOP lawmaker’s positive diagnosis for COVID-19. Sims says House Republicans called for in-person committee meetings to argue that business sectors were safe to reopen even as they knew they had been exposed to the virus. From NBC News:
“Every single day of this crisis this State Government Committee in Pennsylvania has met so that their members could line up one after one after one and explain that it was safe to go back to work,” said Sims during his. “During that time period they were testing positive. They were notifying one another. And they didn’t notify us.”
“I never ever, ever knew that the Republican leadership of this state would put so many of us at risk for partisanship to cover up a lie,” he said during the nearly 12-minute tirade. “And that lie is that we’re all safe from COVID.”
Rep. Andrew Lewis, R-Dauphin, said in a Facebook Live address Wednesday night, hours after he publicly announced he had tested positive, that he informed as few people as possible about contracting the coronavirus because he wanted to protect the privacy of those around him and because he was only in close quarters with a handful of house colleagues.
Sims shares in the video that he donated a kidney in January and so he currently has a compromised immune system making him more susceptible to the coronavirus. Sims is demanding an investigation into how the notification about the diagnosis was handled. He’s also called for Speaker of the House Mike Turzai to resign. Here’s the Facebook Live video. Note – Sims uses some profanity in here.
A man asks sex advice columnist if isolation could make him gay (stock image) Some news items you might have missed: • Chicago Tribune: A 32-year-old man wrote to sex advice columnist Anna Pulley to ask if being isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic could be responsible for developing a sexual attraction to men. • KSTP: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has called for the police officer involved in the incident that led to the death of George Floyd to be arrested. Floyd was pronounced dead Monday night after he was taken into custody by police in south Minneapolis. A video that was circulated online shows an officer holding his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for several minutes. • The Lincoln Project: As the COVID-19 death toll crossed the 100,000 mark in the U.S. today, the conservative anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project released a new campaign ad criticizing the Donald’s handling of the coronavirus health threat. The spot features Trump announcing on February 26 that “You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” As his words echo, a shot of seven body bags slowly pulls back to reveal thousands.
• Out: NBA great Dwyane Wade and his daughter Zaya were celebrating this weekend by posting pics on social media of their matching bright red-dyed hair. It was yet another way the Hall of Fame parent is supporting and empowering his teenage trans child. • Hollywood Reporter: California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing has filed a lawsuit against the executive producers of the CBS series Criminal Minds, Disney and the network itself. The filing alleges multiple instances of sexual touching by Gregory St. Johns, a director of photography on the show. According to the lawsuit, over a dozen male employees were fired at the request of St. Johns when they complained or didn’t respond to his behavior which included butt slaps and pinches. • EXTRA: Pose star Billy Porter shares that quarantining with his husband Adam Smith has been “a very deepening time for our relationship.” Along with expressing the importance of self-care, Porter added, “I am mentally solid, I have been going through some trauma therapy that’s really intense.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany (public domain) White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has spent the past week defending Donald Trump’s baseless claims that allowing more people to vote-by-mail would lead to widespread voter fraud. But it appears McEnany, like her boss, is playing a game of “Do as I say, not as I do.” A new report shows McEnany has utilized mail-in ballots for ten years. From the Tampa Bay Times:
The Tampa native has voted by mail in every Florida election she has participated in since 2010, according to a Tampa Bay Times review of her voting history. Most recently, she voted by mail in the state’s March 2020 presidential primary, just as Trump did after he made Florida his new permanent home.
Last week, McEnany, 32, said vote-by-mail was OK for Trump because “the president is, after all, the president, which means he’s here in Washington. He’s unable to cast his vote down in Florida, his state of residence.”
Meanwhile, McEnany, a graduate of South Tampa’s Academy of the Holy Names and a Davis Islands homeowner, has voted by mail 11 times over the last 10 years.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Now, why is it ok for McEnany to vote by mail but not others…?
As the death toll from COVID-19 nears 100,000 in the U.S., Reuters reports that 20 states saw an increase in new cases of COVID-19 for the week ended May 24, up from 13 states in the prior week. Alabama had the biggest weekly increase at 28%, Missouri’s new cases rose 27% and North Carolina’s rose 26%, according to the analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. As folks in Alabama celebrated the Memorial Day weekend by hitting the beaches in droves with little-to-no social distancing or face masks. Even with the state’s relaxed guidelines, groups are supposed to be six feet away from each other. Groups are also supposed to consist of only people who live in the same household. CNN’s Gary Tuchman spoke to several beach-goers about any concerns they may or may not have about the coronavirus. The responses were eye-opening.
“I’m just here just to have fun and meet everybody and be cool, you know,” said the first young man. “When it’s my time to go, it’s just my time to go.” “Everybody’s gotta go somehow. I don’t wanna die, but I mean, if that’s what God has in store for my life then that’s okay,” said a 21-year-old woman. Said another 20-something: “My family has the same mindset as me. We kind of just agreed that if we get it we get it. We’re gonna handle it as a family and just get over it because that’s what a family does.” “Just like the flu, right,” said one woman. “People die from the flu also. To me, that’s just the way I look at it.” Asked if she was concerned about so many people being at the beach, one woman replied, “No, not at all. There’s enough wind and air that it’ll clear it all out.” “I just feel comfortable that we’re going to be ok,” said an older man when asked why he doesn’t wear a face mask. “The survival rate is so high…We’re all gonna get sick from something eventually.” And in a demonstration of presidential leadership, a bearded young man said he was taking his cues from Donald Trump. “I mean, if he’s not wearing a mask, I’m not gonna wear a mask. If he’s not worried, I’m not worried.” And there you have it. But it wasn’t just Alabama flouting the rules. Over in Missouri, public pool parties were just as busy. Several videos taken from the Lake of the Ozark Saturday showed people not social distancing. Hundreds of people were packed into a pool and no one was seen wearing a mask. Check out the report from local CBS News affiliate KMOV.
Francisco José Alvarado (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • Washington Post: Costa Rica became the latest country to legalize same-sex marriage early Tuesday when a ruling from its supreme court went into effect ending the country’s ban. Costa Rica is the first country in Central America to make marriage equality the law of the land. • 13WMAZ: A married youth pastor in Georgia created a wild story about being kidnapped to cover up his family learning he’d hired a male prostitute to meet him at a local motel. • Reuters: The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. coalition of labor unions, endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president on Tuesday, promising to launch an effort to beat Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election. The group represents 55 unions and 12.5 million workers. • Instinct Magazine: Francisco José Alvarado (top photo), a 30-year-old doctor from Spain, beat COVID-19 and became Mr. Gay World 2020. This year’s competition was canceled, but the organizers decided Alvarado – who was the runner-up in 2019 – should be given the title for as this year’s global ambassador for LGBTQ rights.
• AlterNet: In late March, when every other European country was in lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Sweden’s officials decided that Swedes could be relied upon to follow sanitation guidelines themselves. Restaurants, shops, and recreational spots were allowed to stay open. As of May 19, Sweden had more coronavirus deaths per capita than any other country in Europe. • The Daily Beast: The Justice Department informed lawyers for Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) there will be no insider trading charges filed against Loeffler. The senator and her husband, New York Stock Exchange chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, have denied that their sales of millions of dollars in stock – made shortly after a closed-door Senate intelligence briefing on the coronavirus in early January – had anything to do with that information. • Talking Points Memo: A new study produced by business school profs at Columbia and University of Chicago suggests that viewing Fox News is strongly correlated with ignoring social distancing guidance during the first weeks of the COVID19 epidemic and is in fact driving that non-compliance. • Social Media: The Bidens paid tribute to the nation’s veterans on Memorial Day, appearing in public at a wreath-laying ceremony near his Delaware home. Over the weekend, Biden took a swipe at Donald Trump’s golf habit tweeting, “The presidency is about a lot more than tweeting from your golf cart. It requires taking on the ultimate responsibility for the biggest decisions in the world. Donald Trump simply wasn’t prepared for that. I promise you I will be.”
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain) Over the past three years, Donald Trump’s Twitter habit has put the social media platform in the uncomfortable position of balancing First Amendment rights of expression (by Trump) versus his endless stream of fact-free statements causing the spread of disinformation. For instance, over the past week Trump has tweeted unfounded accusations that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was somehow involved in the death of a former intern. Even the spouse of the deceased aide publicly begged the CEO of Twitter to remove the tweets but to no avail. Today, for the first time, Twitter applied a fact-checking label to some of Trump’s tweets claiming mail-in ballots would lead to overwhelming voter fraud. The label, which reads “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” links to news reports about the Donald’s unsubstantiated claims. A spokesperson for Twitter, Katie Rosborough, told the Washington Post the tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.”
Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd The Minneapolis Police Department has fired four officers involved in the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while being arrested on Monday. He was reportedly being detained as a possible suspect in a bad check-writing case. The incident, showing one officer kneeling on the neck of handcuffed Gregory Floyd as he lay face down on the ground, was recorded and shared across social media on Monday night. In the video, Floyd can be heard saying he could not breathe many times. As the video continues, he seems to lose consciousness. Floyd was later pronounced dead at the Hennepin County Medical Center. You can see portions of the video footage below. Warning: extremely disturbing.
“I CAN’T BREATHE”: Video shows George Floyd, a black man that police say was a possible “forgery” suspect, pleading with Minneapolis cops for air as they press a knee into his neck. Floyd loses consciousness and later dies. Click here for the full video: https://t.co/gD3hBFhbgLpic.twitter.com/h5SabBHR7M
“The man looked already dead before the ambulance even got there. He was clearly trying to tell them he couldn’t breathe and they ignored him,” Darnella Frazier, one of the people who filmed the incident, told NBC News. The police department has told reporters that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been contacted to independently investigate. Additionally, the department announced the FBI would also be investigating. The names of the four officers have not been released by the Minneapolis Police Department. The news of the firing of the officers was shared by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Twitter where he called the decision “the right call.” “Four responding MPD officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated,” Frey wrote. “This is the right call.”
Four responding MPD officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated. This is the right call.
Now the work of systematically & methodically prosecuting them needs to happen. It needs to be done openly, in plane sight, just as Floyd was murdered, and it needs to be performed with the absolute utmost professionalism and reporting so that future murderers will be on notice. https://t.co/3qP5PFuToZ
(screen captures) A white woman in New York City called the police and accused a black man of threatening her and her dog after he asked her to put the dog’s leash on while in Central Park. From NBC News:
Christian Cooper captured part of the exchange in a now-viral video that was posted to Twitter by his sister. The woman, later identified as Amy Cooper, is shown on video asking Cooper to stop recording her, or she was going to call the cops and tell them “there’s an African American man threatening my life.” She repeated the statement several times, each time sounding more distressed, while appearing to call 911 dispatch.
Meanwhile, Christian didn’t appear to move any closer to Amy. He tells NBC New York that he’s an avid bird watcher who was in The Ramble, a popular spot in the park for birders, around 8 a.m. Monday morning. He says he only asked Amy to put her dog on the leash in the area where it’s required to have your dog on a leash at all times.
“If the habitat is destroyed we won’t be able to go there to see the birds, to enjoy the plantings,” Christian explained on Monday night. When Amy refused, he says he offered her dog a treat and started recording the incident.
As the video begins, Amy Cooper is yanking her dog by the collar and demanding Christian Cooper to stop recording. “Please don’t come close to me,” Christian Cooper says, as she approaches. “Sir, I’m asking you to stop recording me,” Amy Cooper says. He asks her again not to come close. That’s when Amy Cooper says she’s going to call the police. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she says. “Please tell them whatever you like,” Christian Cooper says. The video shows Amy Cooper on her phone. “There’s a man, African American, he has a bicycle helmet,” she says. “He is recording me and threatening me and my dog.” While she’s on the phone, her dog appears to be straining and trying to get free while she tries to restrain it. “I’m being threatened by a man in the Ramble,” she continues even though it’s apparent the man isn’t threatening her. “Please send the cops immediately!” At this writing the video has been viewed over 30 million times.
Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash. pic.twitter.com/3YnzuATsDm
Amy Cooper spoke to CNN and says that since the video was posted, her “entire life is being destroyed right now.” She told NBC New York on Monday that she admits she overreacted but she claimed that Christian was screaming, and that she felt threatened because she didn’t know what was in the dog treats. “I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, his family,” she said in a phone call. “It was unacceptable and I humbly and fully apologize to everyone who’s seen that video, everyone that’s been offended…everyone who thinks of me in a lower light and I understand why they do.” “When I think about the police, I’m such a blessed person. I’ve come to realize especially today that I think of [the police] as a protection agency, and unfortunately, this has caused me to realize that there are so many people in this country that don’t have that luxury,” she continued. Her employer, investment company Franklin Templeton, placed her on administrative leave Monday night and CNN reports she was fired as of Tuesday afternoon. According to a Facebook post from Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue Inc., the dog in the video has been surrendered to the shelter. “The dog is now in our rescue’s care and he is safe and in good health,” the post said. Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted his disgust over the overt racism displayed in the video saying, “This kind of hatred has no place in our city.”
The video out of Central Park is racism, plain and simple.
She called the police BECAUSE he was a Black man. Even though she was the one breaking the rules. She decided he was the criminal and we know why. This kind of hatred has no place in our city. https://t.co/6PP7jIwL1g — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) May 26, 2020
The U.S. Department of Justice is launching an investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black man in Georgia as a hate crime, according to attorneys for the victim’s family.
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot and killed by two white men while jogging in his neighborhood on February 23. Three arrests were made this month after video surfaced of the violent encounter.
Attorneys for Arbery’s family said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Bobby Christine and his office will look into why Glynn County and the state of Georgia took more than two months to make an arrest and whether the region has historically violated the rights of its citizens. The U.S. Attorney said he plans to file criminal and civil charges.
William Bryan, who recorded Arbery’s killing from his car, was arrested and charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. His footage showed 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son, Travis, confront Arbery before shooting him.
Gregory and Travis were both arrested May 9. Travis was charged with murder and aggravated assault, and Gregory was charged with party to murder and aggravated assault.
Predictably, Donald Trump has become triggered by the fact folks noticed he took time to play golf on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. First, he lashed out at a campaign ad regarding his golf habit. Then, as he’s done many times in the past, he turned his focus on his predecessor claiming Obama was “always” playing golf. Many on social media criticized the Donald for his bad timing as the coronavirus death toll nears 100,000. Plus, the obvious hypocrisy after frequently harping on President Obama playing golf during his 8 years in the White House. Note – at this point in his administration, Obama had played 70 rounds of golf over more than three years. To date, Trump has played golf or visited one of his golf properties 251 times. “Sleepy Joe’s representatives have just put out an ad saying that I went to play golf (exercise) today. They think I should stay in the White House at all times. What they didn’t say is that it’s the first time I’ve played golf in almost 3 months, that Biden was constantly…vacationing, relaxing & making shady deals with other countries, & that Barack was always playing golf, doing much of his traveling in a fume spewing 747 to play golf in Hawaii – Once even teeing off immediately after announcing the gruesome death of a great young man by ISIS!”
…vacationing, relaxing & making shady deals with other countries, & that Barack was always playing golf, doing much of his traveling in a fume spewing 747 to play golf in Hawaii – Once even teeing off immediately after announcing the gruesome death of a great young man by ISIS!
Some stories about the fact that in order to get outside and perhaps, even a little exercise, I played golf over the weekend. The Fake & Totally Corrupt News makes it sound like a mortal sin – I knew this would happen! What they don’t say is that it was my first golf in almost…
….Hawaii in a big, fully loaded 747, to play. What did that do to the so-called Carbon Footprint? He also played moments after the brutal killing by ISIS of a wonderful young man. Totally inappropriate – and it was me who shattered 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. I was left a MESS!
Fact Check: at same point in presidency: Pres Trump has made 30 visits to Palm Beach, total air travel 51,540 miles Pres Obama made 3 vacation trips to Hawaii, total air travel 28,978 miles. https://t.co/OdHCSQFBWy
I’m old enough to remember you slamming President Obama for golfing when there were 2 ebola cases. Let’s not throw rocks at glass houses, #PresidentPlump . We almost have 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus.
But it wasn’t just Alabama flouting the rules. Over in Missouri, public pool parties were just as busy. Several videos taken from the Lake of the Ozark Saturday showed people not social distancing. Hundreds of people were packed into a pool and no one was seen wearing a mask. Check out the report from local CBS News affiliate KMOV. 
