The Institute of Supply Management’s index of manufacturing activity released Friday hit its lowest level since the end of the Great Recession in December.
Why it matters: It shows worsening conditions for the U.S. manufacturing sector, which has been in contraction for five straight months and reignites concerns about the trade war’s impact on the economy. Stocks, already in the red after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general, fell near the lowest levels of the day following the release of the data.
By the numbers: The index came in at 47.2 in December — worse than the 49 economists expected — falling 0.9 points from the prior month’s reading. (Any reading below 50 suggests the manufacturing sector is in contraction.)
Respondents to the survey, which manufacture goods in 18 different industries, noted sluggish demand for products, as well as suppliers passing tariff-related costs on to manufacturers.
Nathan McCallum (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Where in the world is fitness guy Nathan McCallum…and how do I get there? 🙂 •Instinct Magazine: RuPaul’s nascent talk show, which had a three-week trial run this past summer, has not been picked up for syndication. • NewNowNext: The Equitable Restroom Act went into effect in Illinois on January 1, which requires single-occupancy bathrooms in public places to be marked with signs labeling them as “All-Gender.” • KIT212: Kenneth serves up his weekly round-up (below) of the what’s what in gay rags across the country. • LGBTQ Nation: A gay man’s sister kidnapped him & forced him into conversion therapy where he was beaten and flogged. His family thought being gay was “demonic,” so his sister hired a “prophet” to beat it out of him. • Variety: Kevin Spacey has settled a lawsuit with the estate of a man who had accused him of sexual assault, following the accuser’s death in September. A trial was set to take place in federal court in June 2020, but when the accuser died, the accuser’s estate filed a notice dismissing the lawsuit on Monday. Each side agreed to pay their own costs. • WRAL: The United Methodist Church appears poised to split into two separate denominations over the issue of LGBTQ inclusion. The United Methodist Church is currently the third largest Christian denomination in the United States. • Politico: Why Pete Buttigieg enrages the political left – “The unspoken truth about the furor Buttigieg arouses is that his success threatens a core belief of young progressives: that their ideology owns the future, and that the rise of millennials into Democratic politics is going to bring an inevitable demographic triumph for the party’s far left wing.” • Twitter: As many have pointed out, before the 2012 presidential election, Donald Trump repeatedly predicted (wrongly) that President Obama would start a war with Iran in order to secure re-election. We all know Trump projects his own thoughts on others as this video clip resurfaces:
Not only tweets, we got video. Remember, folks – Trump is about projection. He always accuses others of what he would/will do. pic.twitter.com/QdEu8gpY8V
Corey Jones (mugshot via EBRSO) Someone needs to work on their aggressive anger issues. Louisiana teen Corey Jones, 18, was arrested New Year’s Eve after a domestic dispute ended in his ripping his boyfriend’s testicle sac. According to Baton Rouge news outlet WAFB, the victim had returned home after having “a bad day at work.” As a verbal argument began between the two men, the victim locked himself in his bedroom but Jones broke in and the altercation became physical. The incident continued to escalate until Jones allegedly grabbed the victim’s scrotum and squeezed so hard, the testicle sac “ripped and began to bleed uncontrollably.” WAFB reports the victim was treated with stitches at a nearby hospital but the ‘significant laceration’ will leave a permanent scar. Jones was arrested and charged with domestic abuse battery with serious bodily injury. He is currently being held at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
A Bronx teen has been charged with murder, gang assault and robbery for the brutal beating that killed 60-year-old Juan Fresnada on Christmas Eve. New York Daily News reports Abu Conteh, 18, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the mugging that profited a gang of attackers $1 and led to the death of Fresnada. As previously reported, Fresnada and his longtime boyfriend, Byron Caceres, 26, were assaulted around 1:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve when they were targeted by muggers outside a McDonald’s restaurant. Fresnada attempted to protect his younger partner in the attack but was overwhelmed as three men took part in the assault which lasted about 15 minutes according to Caceres. In surveillance video, one of the gang can be seen slamming a metal trash can down on Fresnada’s head before fleeing the scene of the crime leaving the elder man bleeding in the street as cars, passers-by and a city bus passed by without stopping. Surveillance video showed Fresnada bleeding on the ground as passers-by, cars, and even a city bus passed by without checking on the man bleeding on the sidewalk.
Fresnada eventually died from his injuries inflicted by the gang, which included swelling in the brain, after clinging to life for three days on a ventilator at Lincoln Hospital. Conteh was reportedly picked up at his home not far from the scene of the crime after being identified as one of the assailants. Two accomplices have also been identified and police are currently searching for them. The 18-year-old’s mother, Isataturay Conteh, told the Daily News her son is innocent. “He saw people fighting and he knows those people in the video but he never touched that man,” said the mother. “It’s not him who killed this man.” Even with the arrest of Conteh, Caceres says he’s been worried that the suspects might come looking for him. “I’m nervous about it,” he told the Daily News. “I’m thinking a lot about it…. A lot of people told me that I should cover my face when I was talking to the news.” “Hopefully justice comes on the way,” he added. “If I have to go to court, if I have to go the grand jury, if I have to do something to recognize this guy, I will do it.” The couple had lived together in a small apartment in the Bronx since 2016. Juan Fresnada and Byron Caceres(source: NY Daily News)
Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds military Force, was killed Thursday night in an airstrike in Baghdad. The U.S. Defense Department said late Thursday that the “decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel” was ordered by President Trump.
“This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,” the Defense Department said. Mr. Trump tweeted a photo of an American flag late Thursday.
The missile attack comes hours after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the U.S. military will be ready if Iran and its allies plan new attacks, like the one this week at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The U.S. Defense Department blamed Soleimani and the Quds Force for the embassy attack, as well as the attack on December 27 that killed an American defense contractor.
The Pentagon issued this statement:
At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.
He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months – including the attack on December 27th – culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel. General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week.
Trump took to Twitter to share a pixelated image of the American flag:
NBC News reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling on the Trump administration to immediately brief lawmakers on the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian commander in Iraq and what the White House plans to do next. “Tonight’s airstrike risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence. America — and the world — cannot afford to have tensions escalate to the point of no return,” Pelosi said in a statement late Thursday. Pelosi added that the strike was carried out without an “authorization for use of military force” against Iran and without the consultation of Congress. Past tweets from Trump immediately went viral recalling the Donald’s claims that President Obama would begin a war with Iran in order to secure his re-election. All of this comes, of course, amid Trump being impeached over his dealing with the president of Ukraine regarding a phony investigation about his presumed political opponent in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.
In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.
Kevin Bacon (image via Facebook) Mark Latunski, 50, has been charged with one count of murder and one count of mutilation of the body of his alleged victim in a Grindr hookup gone terribly wrong. MLive.com reports that Kevin Bacon (not the actor), 25, of Swartz Creek, Michigan, told his housemate, Michelle Myers, he was meeting a man he’d met on the dating app around 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Bacon then texted Myers at 6:12 p.m. saying he would be out for a while and wasn’t sure when he’d be home. According to Myers, he indicated he was “having fun.” But when the 25-year-old hairstylist was a no-show at his family’s Christmas breakfast, they became concerned. Police eventually found Bacon’s car in a parking lot where a bag containing his phone, clothes, and wallet was discovered. Missing from the scene were his car keys. According to MLive.com, the young man’s body was found on December 28 at Latunski’s home in Shiawassee County’s Bennington Township, 25 miles west of Flint. Police were led to the suspect’s home after some Facebook posts about the home in question were relayed to the Clayton Township Police Department, according to Kevin Bacon’s dad, Karl Bacon. The medical examiner determined Bacon died sometime between late Christmas Eve and early Christmas Day. If found guilty, Latunski faces life in prison. Mark Latunski (mug shot) Bacon’s parents, Karl and Pamela Bacon, said at a press conference they didn’t know if their son had any previous contact with Latunski. But the father took issue with the folks at Grindr telling the press “They didn’t give us any info during the initial investigation.” Calling the people in charge at the dating app “rather uncooperative,” the father said,“There’s no regulation of law on how they operate and how accountable they are to people’s activities on their apps.” “That was our biggest obstacle in this investigation,” said Karl Bacon. “We did not know where he was going and who he was meeting with. If he had relayed that information early on, it may not have been avoided, but it could have been accelerated a lot quicker if we knew who and where.” For its part,a spokesperson for Grindr issued a statement which read: “We at Grindr are heartbroken to hear about this terrible tragedy, and share our condolences with Mr. Bacon’s family and friends. While for privacy reasons we do not offer public comment on individual user accounts, we remain fully committed to working with law enforcement in the event of any investigation.” The victim’s namesake – Kevin Bacon, the actor – expressed his own condolences on social media writing, “For obvious reasons I’m thinking this morning about the friends and Family of this young person Kevin Bacon. His life was taken from him much too soon. His love was hair dressing. I bet he would have done a great job on this mess on my head. RIP KB.”
This tragic incident, in the wake of previous reports of dating apps being used to lure gay men into dangerous situations, brings to bear the important topic of safety when meeting strangers on such apps. Grindr recently announced new features to protect users’ safety, but are they enough? Some years ago, a friend told me he always left the web page of a dating website he used open on his laptop when he’d meet up with someone new. His intention was if he went missing people would find the info on his computer. Readers – do you take any specific measures when using dating apps? Tell friends where or who you are meeting? Does anyone have advice on how to help in these situations? Tell us in the comments section. (source: MLive.com)
(screen capture) Truly tragic. Sky lanterns released to celebrate the new year are believed to be the cause of a zoo fire that killed at least 30 animals at the Krefeld Zoo in Germany. The AP reports:
A fire raced through a zoo in western Germany in the first few minutes of the new year, killing more than 30 animals, including apes, monkeys, bats and birds, authorities said. Police said paper sky lanterns launched nearby to celebrate the arrival of 2020 were probably to blame.
Several witnesses saw cylindrical paper lanterns with little fires inside flying in the night sky shortly after midnight Wednesday near the Krefeld Zoo, Gerd Hoppmann, the city’s head of criminal police, told reporters.
“People reported seeing those sky lanterns flying at low altitude near the zoo and then it started burning,” Hoppmann said.
The zoo near the Dutch border said its entire ape house burned down and more than 30 animals — including five orangutans, two gorillas, a chimpanzee, and several monkeys — were killed, as well as fruit bats and birds.
Only two chimpanzees were able to be rescued from the flames by firefighters. They suffered burns but are in stable condition, zoo director Wolfgang Dressen said.
Police say sky lanterns launched to celebrate the new year may have caused the zoo fire that killed more than 30 animals in Germany pic.twitter.com/s0R5yGVlTp
L-R Kathy Griffin, Lily Tomlin, Randy Bick (screen capture) Kathy Griffin can look back at 2019 with a smile. And a ring. A wedding ring. On top of releasing her documentary, A Hell of a Story, which chronicled her experiences after sharing her infamous Trump decapitation photo in 2017, she also scored with her latest comedy show, Laugh Your Head Off. And in the last seconds of the year married her longtime boo, Randy Bick, in a New Year’s Eve ceremony officiated by none other than Lily Tomlin. Girl, you ain’t no D-List if Lily Tomlin is presiding over your nuptials. “What was supposed to be a shallow, ‘toot it and boot it’ one-night stand has grown and flourished into something far more meaningful,” says Tomlin at the beginning of the ceremony. “They stayed together. Then they couldn’t stay away from one another.” And they say romance is dead… Griffin shared in a follow-up tweet that her attire for the wedding was the dress she wore on her first date with Bick. “This was our first formal date in September 2011!” she wrote. “We are in the back of a limo provided by the one only @GloriaEstefan because her team arranged for me to surprise her as a back up ‘dancer’ when she performed at the Alma awards!” “I asked Randy to pick out whichever one of my long dresses was his favorite for any reason. He picked out this dress and showed me this photo. Romance is hotttt again.”
The entire ceremony was just under 14 minutes but I have to give you guys the uncut first 75 seconds. LOVE IT! We promised you atypical. We are in love and we cannot stop laughing. Thank you @LilyTomlin and Jane Wagner!#HappyNewYearpic.twitter.com/O5vOss3TCD
A) This was our first formal date in September 2011! We are in the back of a limo provided by the one only @GloriaEstefan because her team arranged for me to surprise her as a back up “dancer” when she performed at the Alma awards! pic.twitter.com/Z9kNaQHFpY
A police officer in Kansas has admitted he fabricated the story of a McDonald’s employee writing “f**king pig” on his coffee cup. Via KTLA:
A Kansas police officer who initially claimed McDonald’s employees wrote “F—–g pig” on his cup has resigned, the city’s police chief said.
“In (our) investigation we have found that McDonald’s and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident, this was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency,” Herington Police Department Chief Brian Hornaday said in a news conference Monday.
The incident, the chief said, has been an “obvious violation of … public trust.”
“Our job is solely to do this job with the utmost integrity because if you can’t trust the cops, who can you trust,” he said.
After McDonald’s conducted its own investigation, the owner and operator of the Junction City franchise said in a statement the fast-food chain was “glad that the evidence confirmed our evaluation that McDonald’s and our crew members were absolutely not involved.”
The now-fired police officer had been with the department for just two months. After the officer texted the photo of the coffee cup to Hornaday on Saturday, the police chief posted it on his personal Facebook account, which clearly became embarrassing after discovering the story was faked.
As we head into the roaring 20s, I wanted to take a look back at 2019 and the 20-teens to acknowledge the accomplishments, visibility and fierceness that the LGBTQ community has achieved so far in terms of politics, television, movies and pop culture. Hit play as I acknowledge out athletes, representation in film and TV, and legislative achievements by the LGBTQ community.
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