L-R Dr. Anthony Fauci, Rep. Devin Nunes During an appearance on Fox News Sunday morning, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) advised Americans to “stop panicking” in regard to the coronavirus threat. “There’s a lot of concerns with the economy here because people are scared to go out,” said Nunes. “But I will just say, one of the things you can do if you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant.” At practically the same time, Dr. Anthony Fauci – one of the leading experts in the world on communicable diseases – told CNN he would prefer to see LESS ‘personal interaction’ in restaurants or bars.
Younger people “are not immune or safe from getting seriously ill,” he told CNN’s Brianna Keiler on ‘State of the Union.’ “There are going to be people who were young who are going to wind up getting seriously ill. So, protect yourself. But, remember, you could also be a vector or a carrier. And even though you don’t get seriously ill, you could bring it to your grandfather, your grandmother or your elderly relative.”
Who would you trust? #srsly
“If you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to go out and go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easy. Let’s not hurt the working people in this country…go to your local pub” pic.twitter.com/jXdhOfwe9R
“I would like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction we see in restaurants and in bars,” Dr. Fauci says about the coronavirus. Young people are not immune: “There are going to be people who are young who are going to wind up getting seriously ill” #CNNSOTUpic.twitter.com/iF5J2gccta
Pete Buttigieg hosts ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ (screen capture) Gossip guy Rob Shuter reports that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana is in the running to host MSNBC’s time slot recently vacated by former Hardball host Chris Matthews. Complicating that equation, however, is the fact that MSNBC stalwarts Steve Kornacki and Joy Reid both want the gig as well. The two have been alternating as host in the 7 pm ET slot since Matthews’ surprise exit two weeks ago. From Shuter:
“Steve and Joy both want this job and neither know that behind their backs the network wants Mayor Pete. The new trend is hiring former politicians and the people around them. No-one is a better example of this than Nicole Wallace who worked on the John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign. Her show on MSNBC is now a monster hit and the executives are hoping to recreate that with Mayor Pete,” sources tell STRAIGHT SHUTER. “Let’s be honest, Pete needs a job. The pay is good, and the hours are great, plus after his rise to a national level he isn’t going to want to give up the spotlight.”
Michael Flynn (photo:Gage Skidmore/Flickr) In a surprise to no one, Donald Trump said on Sunday he is “considering a full pardon” for his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Flynn admitted he lied to the FBI in December 2017 about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the United States, in the weeks before Trump took office. NBC News reports the Justice Department reversed its original position in January and recommended that Flynn be sentenced to up to six months in prison. Attorneys for Flynn then filed papers to withdraw his guilty plea claiming federal prosecutors violated his rights and tricked him into pleading guilty. Referencing an unspecified report that the Justice Department had “lost” records pertaining to Flynn, Trump tweeted, “I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!”
So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has “lost” the records of General Michael Flynn. How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!
Pardon Flynn? The only way to cleanse our country from the filth and stench of his Criminality is to beat him by a landslide in Nov. then prosecute him so he can join the rest of his mob family behind bars.
Trump literally destroyed the lives of the Central Park 5 by falsely accusing them of rape and paying the New York Times to publicly call for their brutal executions. They spent years in jail for a crime they never committed.
ABC News reports: Donald Trump said on Saturday that he has taken a COVID-19 test and is awaiting the results. Trump, who said on Friday he’d “most likely get tested,” said he’s unsure when his results will come back. His temperature was taken, and he said it was “totally normal.” On Friday, Trump said he’d “most likely” get tested after reports that multiple officials from Brazil who attended a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday tested positive for the virus. In related news, Vice President Mike Pence announced today the U.S. travel ban currently in place for parts of Europe has been extended to the UK and Ireland. A ban on some travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days was announced earlier this week by Trump. The original restrictions affected the area known as the Schengen zone and is made up of 26 countries including Italy, Spain, France, and Germany.
NEW: Pres. Trump says he was tested for COVID-19 after being pressed on whether he would take it after meeting with Brazilian official who reportedly tested positive for the virus. "I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday." https://t.co/kAUWcu0Kk0pic.twitter.com/XJbBQRdfqY
Under Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, the House passed an economic relief bill by a vote of 363-40 providing billions of dollars for paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, free testing and other measures to help Americans impacted by the coronavirus crisis.
The legislation came about after tense negotiations between Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The Washington Post reports that the agreement “threatened to fall apart entirely for hours Friday amid GOP misgivings.”
Although Donald Trump was openly critical of House Democrats during an afternoon news conference Pelosi and Mnuchin continued negotiations over the course of a reported 13 phone calls throughout the day until the deal was ultimately reached.
Lawmakers voted on the bill just before 1 am Saturday morning. All 40 ‘no’ votes were from Republicans.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it next week.
According to the Associated Press, the relief bill will: • Require private health insurers to provide free testing for coronavirus and waive cost-sharing rules for those covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and federal retirement programs. • Establish a temporary coronavirus-related sick leave benefit to be paid by employers with less than 500 employees. Businesses will be refunded by the federal government through a refundable tax credit. Employees with the coronavirus would receive 100 percent of their wages if diagnosed with the virus or are self-isolating. Folks taking care of family members would receive two-thirds of their pay.
• Up to $1.3 billion in emergency food aid for low-income pregnant women and their young children, seniors, and food banks.
• Provide $1 billion for additional caseloads and administrative costs to encourage temporarily furloughed workers to obtain unemployment benefits.
• Require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a temporary rule requiring increased protections against the coronavirus.
Finally sensing the full gravity of the circumstances, Donald Trump weighed in via tweet in support of the legislation:
Here’s a list of the 40 House Republicans who voted against the coronavirus relief package. Many of them criticized the process and complained about a lack of time to review the 110-page bill since it was unveiled less than an hour before the vote started. pic.twitter.com/ke8NMe0ZIR
McConnell signaled in a statement overnight he is likely to back House bill and Senate will take it up next week. “But I believe the vast majority of Senators in both parties will agree we should act swiftly to secure relief for American workers, families, and small businesses”
Matt Moran in ‘Stranger Hearts’ now streaming on Dekkoo Some news items you might have missed: • Dekkoo: Matt Moran (above) stars as Billy, a smooth-talking media mogul by day/leather bar aficionado by night, who finds his life turned upside down when he’s faced with an unexpected health crisis in the new drama Stranger Hearts now streaming on the gay-centric platform. Read my review of the series here. • Axios: Louisiana is the first state to delay its primary in response to the novel coronavirus. The contest has been moved from April 4 to June 20. Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio have announced their March 17 primaries will go on as scheduled. • KIT212: Don’t miss Kenneth’s weekly round-up of gay rags in the U.S. and abroad including Connor Jessup covering Attitude Magazine (below). • The Hill: Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly (D) has a 12-point lead over Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) in the Arizona Senate race, according to a Univision poll released Friday. Kelly garnered 48 percent support versus McSally’s 36 percent. • Snopes: At today’s press conference regarding the coronavirus, PBS Newshour’s Yamiche Alcindor asked Donald Trump about closing the National Security Council’s pandemics team in 2018. That group would have been on the ready to coordinate responses to any possible pandemics. Today, Trump denied knowing anything about the team’s dismissal.
WATCH: @Yamiche asked the president about a reorganization of the National Security Council that dismantled a key pandemics team in 2018. President Trump: “I just think it’s a nasty question… You say we did that, I don’t know anything about it.” pic.twitter.com/lWo0YKS1rl
• Buzzfeed News: Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will suspend all travel from Europe to the US for 30 days sent Americans traveling in Europe into hysteria trying to get home when he failed to mention the ban wouldn’t affect U.S. citizens. • Washington Post: Donald Trump tried to blame the current coronavirus threat on former President Barack Obama. Folks weren’t having it.
…. Their response to H1N1 Swine Flu was a full scale disaster, with thousands dying, and nothing meaningful done to fix the testing problem, until now. The changes have been made and testing will soon happen on a very large scale basis. All Red Tape has been cut, ready to go!
L-R Andrew Gillum (photo via campaign site), Travis Dyson (photo via Facebook) When police responded to a cardiac-arrest distress call at a Miami Beach hotel early Friday morning, they found Andrew Gillum, former mayor of Tallahassee and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, in an inebriated state in the hotel room. According to the Miami New Times, paramedics were treating another male, identified as Travis Dyson, for possible drug overdose when the police arrived. From the Miami New Times:
The officers stated that the third man involved in the incident, Aldo Mejias, had lent Dyson his credit-card information to rent a hotel room yesterday afternoon and that the two were supposed to meet later that day. Mejias told the officers that he arrived at the hotel room around 11 p.m. and that Dyson opened the door and then immediately collapsed on a bed and began vomiting. Mejias said he began giving Dyson CPR and called 911.
Mejias told police Gillum was inside the hotel room “under the influence of an unknown substance.” Mejias said that while he was performing CPR on Dyson, Gillum was vomiting in a bathroom. Officers said that they tried to speak with Gillum but that he was “unable to communicate due to his inebriated state.”
Miami Beach Fire-Rescue said it responded to the hotel a second time for a “welfare check” on Gillum, at which time he was in a stable condition.
The officers said they found three small baggies of “suspected crystal meth” on “both the bed and floor of the hotel room.” Officers said Gillum left the hotel room “without incident” that night and went home.
No criminal charges have been filed at this time. Miami Herald reporter David Smiley shared via Twitter a statement from Gillum saying he has “never used methamphetamines.”
Gillum statement: “I was in Miami last night for a wedding celebration when first responders were called to assist one of my friends. While I had too much to drink, I want to be clear that I have never used methamphetamines.”
New Times attempted to contact Mejias but received no return call. The newspaper reached Dyson by phone Friday afternoon but he seemed confused about anyone attending a wedding. “I personally was not celebrating a wedding,” said Dyson. “I don’t know if [Gillum] was in town for a wedding. He did not mention that.” Additionally, Dyson shared that he’s known Gillum “for a while.” The New Times reports that Dyson, when pressed further about his friendship with Gillum, went silent and hung up. He didn’t answer subsequent calls. Since the story broke, several people on social media have shared that Dyson is a well-known male escort in the Miami area.
(image via White Party/Facebook) Add Pride celebrations to the long list of events now being postponed thanks to concerns about the coronavirus threat. Organizers for Los Angeles Pride announced today that “all events related to the 50th Anniversary of LA Pride that were scheduled for June 2020” have been postponed.
Due to the concerns of COVID-19, CSW will postpone all events related to the 50th Anniversary of LA Pride that were scheduled for June 2020. Organizers are assessing the situation. More information to be provided around the postponement as details become available.
On Thursday, organizers for the first-ever Pride of the Americas in Fort Lauderdale announced the event would be moved to later in the year. Miami Pride has been canceled with no replacement date announced. The White Party in Palm Springs has been rescheduled to October 30 – November 2, 2020.
(image via public domain)Politico reporter Dan Diamond told NPR’s Terry Gross during an episode of “Fresh Air” that infighting at the Department of Health and Human Services and the need to flatter Donald Trump impeded the response to the coronavirus. Via NPR:
In the case of [Health and Human Services Secretary] Alex Azar, he did go to the president in January. He did push past resistance from the president’s political aides to warn the president the new coronavirus could be a major problem. There were aides around Trump – Kellyanne Conway had some skepticism at times that this was something that needed to be a presidential priority.
But at the same time, Secretary Azar has not always given the president the worst-case scenario of what could happen. My understanding is he did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that’s partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear – the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential reelection this fall.
You can listen to the chat via NPR below. Diamond’s remarks referenced above happen around the 29:20 mark.
Kumail Nanjiani (images via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • Men’s Variety: After getting into incredible shape for the upcoming Marvel film The Eternals, Kumail Nanjiani (above) says his new fitness led him to develop a subtle form of body dysmorphia. “I’d look in the mirror and I’d see my abs—and when I looked again, they would fade. I would just see the flaws.” • Sun-Sentinel: The inaugural LGBTQ+ Pride of the Americas, which would have been something of an international Pride event, has been postponed until the fall. The weeklong schedule of concerts, parties, street festivals, conferences, symposiums as well as a parade, fashion show, awards banquet and 5K run was to take place at various venues throughout Broward County. • NBC News: Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered a speech on combating the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the country. Biden drops this badass line at the 5:33 mark – “President Trump is welcome to adopt all of it today.”
• LGBTQNation: People who booked an Atlantis cruise for next week are getting angry that the company hasn’t canceled the cruise and won’t refund them if they don’t go, even though other major cruise lines are canceling due to coronavirus. • Twitter: You don’t get any more badass than Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) as she adds up the costs for a battery of coronavirus tests, then reads the federal regulations that gives the CDC director the authority to authorize paying for these tests for all Americans. And then gets him to commit to doing so. Watch below.
@RepKatiePorter is a badass here as she does the math for the costs for a battery of #coronavirus testing. She then gets CDC fir to commit to free testing for all Americans. This is worth watching👍👍👍 pic.twitter.com/2852tAJaW2
• Reuters: Gay dating apps like Grindr and Scruff are warning users to take precautions to avoid contracting coronavirus but are expecting an uptick in traffic as millions of people move online to talk rather than meet face-to-face in bars and clubs. • TalkingPointsMemo: Speaking at the White House today, Donald Trump falsely claimed that all people returning from Europe are being tested for Coronavirus and being quarantined if they are positive.
Trump claims (falsely) all Americans returning to country are being tested:”We have heavily tested. If an American coming back or anybody coming back, we have a tremendous testing set up where people coming in have to be tested … if it shows positive … We have to quarantine.” pic.twitter.com/ndGlKmSFJh
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