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Biden’s Joint Address To Congress Will Have Several Firsts

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden (image via White House/public domain)
President Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress this evening will be noteworthy on several fronts. Biden is reportedly going to present his $1.8 trillion package to Congress since taking office asking for new spending to expand the American education system, provide more help for childcare and create millions more jobs. First, the joint address is not a State of the Union speech, although at first glance it will appear very similar. The president will be announced, he’ll walk down the aisle of the House chamber to applause, all that. But due to COVID restraints, the number of attendees – usually all members of Congress plus guests – will be limited to 200. Many House representatives won’t be there anyway because the annual GOP retreat is taking place this week. Still, some GOP House members aren’t happy about being left off the invitation list.  Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) says she plans on attending anyway. “I’ve requested an invitation and I haven’t heard back,” Boebert said last week. “I’m showing up.” While the Senate is in session, only 58 invitations were made available to senators equally divided by party. Easily the biggest difference for those watching will be visual as for the first time two women – Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – will be seated in the two chairs behind him. It’s the first time the top two officials in the line of presidential succession are both women. Another first – the livestream of Biden’s address will feature American Sign Language interpretation for accessibility.  

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Rudy Giuliani’s Apartment Searched By Feds, Electronic Devices Seized

Rudy Giuliani at Trump press conference (screen capture)
Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and personal lawyer to Donald Trump, was served a search warrant on Wednesday by federal investigators at his Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan. The search, which resulted in Giuliani’s electronic devices being confiscated, was part of an investigation into whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his dealings with Ukraine while working for Trump. From the New York Times:

Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president, and it marks a major turning point in the long-running investigation into Mr. Giuliani.

The federal authorities have been largely focused on whether Mr. Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs, who at the same time were helping Mr. Giuliani search for dirt on Mr. Trump’s political rivals, including President Biden, who was then a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Read the full article at the New York Times. The Times notes that during the Trump administration, high level officials worked to block the approval of the search warrant. But once Merrick Garland took over as Attorney General, the warrant was approved. Trump’s former former lawyer Michael Cohen tweeted the news this morning.

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Podcast: Chatting With Mike Abrams On ‘The Wrong Cat Died’

Hit play to hear my interview with the fun podcast "The Wrong Cat Died"

Hit play to hear my interview with the fun podcast "The Wrong Cat Died" Grizabella was the wrong cat to die. After seeing CATS the Musical for the first time in July of 2016, podcast host Mike Abrams was filled with a whirlwind of emotions. He was amused, confused, and a little angry. Almost exactly three years later when the 2019 CATS movie trailer came out, Mike had enough. It was time to speak his truth – Grizabella was the wrong Cat to Die at the Jellicle Ball. In this podcast series, Mike interviews CATS cast members, CATS superfans, CATS haters, and explores the backstories of the Jellicle characters all to make a case for why they were more worthy to ascend to the Heavyside Layer than Grizabella. I’ve written in the past that in 1986 my life was changed when I was cast as the ‘Magical Mr. Mistoffelees’ in a brand new National Touring company of CATS. To give some perspective, CATS was, in terms of popularity, the Hamilton of its day. All over America, everywhere we went, we were sold out months before we arrived.

Me back in 1986 as ‘the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees’
Fast forward to Fall 2020, my cast reunited in a virtual event performing material from the show to raise money for The Actors Fund. At the time, as “the journalist” of the group, folks asked if I would try and help with the publicity aspect. At the time, I came across Mike’s very entertaining podcast where, initially, he opined on which cat actually should have/deserved to go to the Heaviside Layer at the end of the show. I booked three of my cast mates to go on the podcast and share, not only about our event, but their time ‘back in the day.’  Mike had interviewed cats from the Broadway revival, but no one from the original days in the 1980s. Listening to his character by character in the beginning episodes, I was charmed to find that my character was – in his opinion – the cat that really deserved that next “Jellicle” life. Some weeks ago, he invited me to come on the show and chat. I believe I’m the first ‘Mistoffelees’ to be interviewed on the show, which is quite the honor. This was much fun to revisit the Hit the play button below or listen wherever you get your podcasts – Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and Stitcher.

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Equality California On Caitlyn Jenner Running For Governor: ‘Hard Pass’

Caitlyn Jenner

Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Jenner (image via Instagram)
Caitlyn Jenner’s announcement that she will be running in the California gubernatorial race has received a ‘hard pass’ from LGBTQ activists and advocates in the Golden State. The election, likely in the fall, is the result of an effort to recall current Gov. Gavin Newsom. Even though Jenner would be the first woman elected to the state’s highest office as well as the first transgender person to become governor of the state, LGBTQ folks are not flocking to her. Considering several controversial statements in the past, including her previous support of Donald Trump, Equality California, the state’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, made clear its opposition to her candidacy. “Make no mistake: we can’t wait to elect a trans governor of California. But Caitlyn Jenner spent years telling the LGBTQ+ community to trust Donald Trump. We saw how that turned out. Now she wants us to trust her? Hard pass,” tweeted the organization. TMZ reports that Jenner’s sons did not want her to run and “embarrassed” by her candidacy. Plus, the Kardashian clan has already announced they won’t campaign with Jenner. Conservatives, like Charlie Kirk, are predictably not lining up behind Jenner either.

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Study: More Gay/Bi Teens Comfortable Being Out To Parents

Teenager with Pride flag in back pocket - photo by Toni Reed

Teenager with Pride flag in back pocket
(photo: Toni Reed/Unsplash)
At what age did you come out to your parents? A new study shows the number of gay and bisexual teenage boys that are comfortable being out to their parents has surged by double digits in 20 years. According to the study, published in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation, 66 percent of gay and bi males aged 13-18 are out to their mothers. Forty-nine percent indicated they are out to their dads. This is a huge change from the 1990s when just 40 percent of adolescent boys were out to their moms and less than 30 percent were open about their attractions with their dads. The numbers come from a survey of 1,194 Generation Z boys (born between 1998 and 2018) with same-sex attractions. The data also shows different factors – religion, identity, race – can play a part in terms of who is more comfortable being out with their parents. Not surprisingly, those who come from a more religious background are less likely to be out than those less religious. White survey participants were more likely to be out than Black respondents. And those who identify as gay were more comfortable in being open with their parents than bisexual male teens or those less sure of their sexuality. Lead author David A. Moskowitz, Ph.D., said in a statement that this information can help psychologists understand what factors “move teenagers to share this type of information with those closest to them.” Moskowitz noted in the study that there’s more work to be done (like doing a similar survey among females in the same age group), but added, ”We can now compare these practices with how other generations deal with these issues and think about what it all means for future generations.”

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Health Officials: Fully Vaccinated Can Skip Masks When Outdoors

New York state is about to drop its face mask mandate as COVID-19 cases continue to drop in the Empire State.

A man wearing a face mask during the pandemic As vaccinations for the coronavirus have begun to slow, federal health officials announced today that those Americans who are fully vaccinated will no longer need face masks when exercising outdoors, or at small outdoor gatherings or indoors with family members of their household. From the New York Times:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped short of telling those people that they could shed their masks altogether in outdoor settings — citing the worrying risk that remains for transmitting the coronavirus, unknown vaccination levels among people in crowds and the still high-caseloads in some regions of the country.

Federal health officials and President Biden were announcing the updated advice on Tuesday, linking the news with the administration’s public campaign to get most American adults vaccinated by summer and trying to offer reassurances that some semblance of normal life can return.

But the C.D.C. is maintaining advice on other safety measures, saying vaccinated adults should continue wearing masks and staying six feet apart in large public spaces, like outdoor performance or sports events, indoor shopping malls and movie theaters, where the vaccination and health status of others would be unknown. And they still should avoid medium and large gatherings, crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, officials said.

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Monday Man Crush: InstaHunk Round-Up

https://www.instagram.com/p/COI0QESlAde/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Checking in with some of my favorite hunks of Instagram… Fitness model Dan Tai (above) likes taking things off after a workout: Olympic diver Tom Daley is heading out to compete for the first time in a year: https://www.instagram.com/p/COIiHd5n6m3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link POSE star Dyllon Burnside shared his Earth Day mood: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN_HzffrQVD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Jim Newman felt like a ‘super model,’ and didn’t smile to prove it (because super models don’t smile); https://www.instagram.com/p/CODqxWhFyo4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Eles Quintero said good night from Italy with a friend… https://www.instagram.com/p/COGfPVTFSYa/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Doctor of Dental Medicine wants to encourage you to be consistent. I am consistently looking at this selfie…  https://www.instagram.com/p/COHWtB9AazO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Kevin Davis proved men who wear glasses bring it too: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN6b01CjhNv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Joel Green is feeling grateful for everyday blessings. I’m grateful every day for photos like these: https://www.instagram.com/p/COGCfpUrh5w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Beauty and the Beast star Luke Evans got all dressed up for a Saturday night: https://www.instagram.com/p/COD_dGGgBIU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link And finally – Brody the wonder pup decided (with dozens of toys) he wanted my sock: https://www.instagram.com/tv/COF228ejlBb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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Supreme Court Sidesteps LGBTQ Case Between TX & CA

The U.S. Supreme Court (2021)

The U.S. Supreme Court (2021)
The U.S. Supreme Court (2021)
I guess you could call this a “win by default…” The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a legal argument between California and Texas centered on ‘religious beliefs’ trumping LGBTQ rights. From USA Today:

The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up a heated dispute between one of the nation’s most liberal states and one of its most conservative in a case that had pit freedom of religion against gay rights.

California passed a law in 2016 prohibiting taxpayer-funded travel – such as for state employees to attend conferences – to any state that doesn’t ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Texas law allows foster-care and adoption agencies to deny same-sex couples on religious grounds.

Texas took California directly to the Supreme Court last year, asserting the travel ban was “born of religious animus” and that it violates the Constitution.

Conservatives Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas issued a dissent over the court not taking the case because of course.

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Study Warning About Face Masks Debunked, Soon To Be Retracted

Stock photo of a man working out

Stock photo of a man working out
(stock image via Depositphotos)
A study that purportedly criticized the efficacy of wearing face masks during the pandemic is about to be retracted after some funky facts came to light. From Retraction Watch:

A study that warned of the perils of using face masks as a precaution against contracting Covid-19 appears slated for retraction, Retraction Watch has learned. The 2020 paper, “Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis,” was written by Baruch Vainshelboim, who listed his affiliation as Stanford University and the VA Palo Alto Health System.

But the study gained wide circulation earlier this month, thanks in part to some conservative politicians, and became the subject of fact-checks by the Associated Press and Snopes, which pointed out that the paper was published by an exercise physiologist with no academic connection to Stanford University or the NIH in a journal that accepts “radical, speculative and non-mainstream scientific ideas.

Stanford has disavowed both Vainshelboim and the paper. Snopes, the fact-checking site, cited the study as false and misleading: “The paper was published by an exercise physiologist with no academic connection to Stanford University or the NIH in a journal that accepts ‘radical, speculative and non-mainstream scientific ideas.'” Vainshelboim is not a medical doctor but reportedly holds a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Porto in 2014. The paper got renewed traction this month after the far-right leaning fake-news site, The Gateway Pundit, which has been banned from Twitter for repeatedly posting misinformation.

(h/t JoeMyGod)