Newsmax host Greg Kelly and a guest on his show on Friday criticized the appearance of First Dog, Champ, prompting a wave of criticism and ridicule on Twitter.
Kelly said that Champ, a German Shepherd, looks like he’s “from the junkyard.” “This dog looks like, I’m sorry, like it’s from the junkyard,” Kelly said.
He even had presidential historian Craig Shirley on during the segment who remarked Champ looks “dirty and disheveled” and “unlike a presidential dog.”
This is what they spend time on at Newsmax?
For the record, Champ is a 12-year-old German Shepard the Biden’s adopted when Joe was Vice President. I’m a dog guy, and Champ looks pretty fantastic for a 12-year-old.
Newsmax has a whole ass panel that’s seriously discussing their concern over Biden’s dogs looking “dirty” and like “junkyard dogs”. I don’t… what even… https://t.co/f3bFGUpqnG
(screen capture via DSquared2) Some news items you might have missed: • Instinct Magazine: The acclaimed indie film, Ma Belle, My Beauty, a queer polyamorous love story that was embraced by critics when it debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, has scored a distribution deal. • AP News: A federal judge has dismissed a discrimination lawsuit by a transgender fire chief due to a technical flaw with the initial complaint she filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Rachel Mosby led a rural Georgia city’s fire department for more than a decade, then got fired 18 months after first coming to work as a woman. • DSquared2: Model Malik Delgaty (top image) puts on a private show in this provocative one minute spot for the brand’s Stripped2 underwear line. “What happens in the Secret Room will remain at the Secret Room.”
• BosGuy: It’s ‘Furry Friday’ at the Boston-based LGBTQ blog and this week’s hottie ticks the “fur” and “ginger” boxes 🙂 • HuffPost: Six Capitol Police officers have been suspended with pay and 29 others are under investigation for their alleged roles in the riot last month. According to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of the suspended officers took a selfie with a person who was part of the mob that overtook the Capitol. Another wore a “Make America Great Again” hat and appeared to direct rioters around the building. • New York Post: Wait – Sen. Ted Cruz’s Mexico vacation blunder gets even worse. After telling reporters his home, like many Texans, had lost water and heat – he apparently left the family poodle Snowflake behind in the cold.
Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog.
I applaud Congressman David Cicilline and the entire Congressional Equality Caucus for introducing the Equality Act in the House of Representatives yesterday, and I urge Congress to swiftly pass this historic legislation.
Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and this bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.
Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long. Despite the extraordinary progress the LGBTQ+ community has made to secure their basic civil rights, discrimination is still rampant in many areas of our society.
The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, locking in critical safeguards in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems — and codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement into enduring law.
On my first day in office, I was proud to sign an Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. I directed agencies to implement the Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling, and fully enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Now, it’s time for Congress to secure these protections once and for all by passing the Equality Act — because no one should ever face discrimination or live in fear because of who they are or whom they love.
The Equality Act, formally reintroduced in the House on Thursday, would ban anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination throughout the nation. The act would amend existing civil rights laws to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation passed in the House in 2019 with a bipartisan 236-173 vote but was never given a vote in the Senate. (via WhiteHouse.gov)
Freshman Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) stepped in it a bit after tweeting about a news report indicating the Vatican may fire employees who don’t get vaccinated for the coronavirus. The 25-year-old wrote, “This doesn’t sound legal… One shouldn’t be forced against their will to be vaccinated. The vaccination is there for those who want it, and are in need of it due to medical vulnerabilities.”
This doesn’t sound legal…
One shouldn’t be forced against their will to be vaccinated.
The vaccination is there for those who want it, and are in need of it due to medical vulnerabilities. https://t.co/fCUXBOhef5
Folks were quick to note the irony that the conservative lawmaker defends the concept of “religious liberty” wherein churches make their own rules about how to go about business. As one commenter wrote, “This will age well when he demands religious organizations be allowed to fire people for who they have sex with.” Plus, the Vatican being a sovereign state, it fall outside of Cawthorn’s North Carolina congressional district.
Sir, you are aware the Vatican is a sovereign city state, governed by an absolute monarch? It's not governed by American law, let alone wingnut cosplay law.
So let me get this straight: Religious entities have the absolute right to prohibit employment based on sexuality, gender identity, marriage-status, and pro-choice views. But they absolutely have no right to require that staff partake in the life-saving end to a global pandemic.
Fitness guru Joel Green (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Fitness motivator Joel Green (above) encourages his crew to take a few moments every day to sit in silence and turn your full awareness inward to connect with your spirit. As we enter the second year of the pandemic, I find that really lands for me as my brain fog can get overwhelming at times. Anyone else? • Washington Blade: Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyetta announced on Tuesday evening his candidacy to run for U.S. Senate, setting himself out on a path that, if elected, would make him the first openly gay Black senator. • HBO Max: The acclaimed new UK drama It’s A Sin (from Queer As Folk creator Russell T. Davies) premieres today in the U.S. The series follows several young people throughout the 1980s and early ’90s as they experience the horrific toll of HIV and AIDS in the London gay community. All six episodes are available now on HBO Max, which requires a subscription, but the first episode is available for free on YouTube.
• The Advocate: The Equality Act, which would ban anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination throughout the nation, was formally reintroduced in the House of Representatives Thursday. The act would amend existing civil rights laws to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation passed in the House in 2019 with a bipartisan 236-173 vote but never got a vote in the Senate. • Instinct Magazine: Nearly three years after a gay couple was bashed after a Pride parade in Miami, the case still hasn’t gone to trial. Plus – it turns out one of the four attackers is gay? • The Gaily Grind: Chasten Buttigieg – husband to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg – shared a picture of the couple kissing on Wednesday in what appeared to be subtle shade following the death of far-right, homophobic radio host Rush Limbaugh, who had mocked the couple throughout last year.
International superstar Dolly Parton (image via Instagram) The Tennessee state legislature has been working on passing a bill that would install a statue of country music legend Dolly Parton on the grounds of the state Capitol. So far, the legislation has been approved by a state House committee on February 9. But Parton gracefully asked the lawmakers to remove the bill from consideration (for now) saying she is “honored and humbled by their intention” but feels “given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time.” She added that “somewhere down the road several years from now” or after she’s gone, “if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean.” Parton closed her message promising she’ll “continue to try to do good work” to make her home state proud. And I have no doubt that she will. #ClassAct
Actress and recording artist Demi Lovato premiered the trailer for her upcoming YouTube Originals documentary series, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, on Wednesday.
The four-part series takes a deep dive into not only the circumstances that led up to her nearly fatal drug overdose in 2018, but the effects it had on Lovato’s life after being hospitalized.
In a voiceover, Lovato explains she’s had “so much to say over the past two years wanting to set the record straight about what it was that happened.”
Friends and family taking part in the docu-series express their surprise that Lovato really wants to go there.
One friend exclaims, “I can’t believe y’all are doing this.”
Another: “Are we talking about heroin? Are we doing that?”
Elton John in ‘Dancing with the Devil’
International pop-star Elton John, who knows a few things about fame and addiction, appears in the preview telling the audience, “When you’re young and you’re famous – my god it’s tough.”
In a candid disclosure, the 28-year-old reveals she had three strokes and a heart attack in the hospital.
“I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today,” she told reporters during a Television Critics Association panel on Wednesday. “I don’t drive a car because I have blind spots on my vision.”
“And I also for a long time had a really hard time reading,” she adds. “It was a big deal when I was able to read out of a book, which was like two months later because my vision was so blurry.”
Lovato, who came out as sexually fluid in 2018, shares that hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year “was the catalyst for my need and desire to express myself and my story to the fullest extent.” “I knew that one appearance on a television show wasn’t going to cut it, I was not going to be able to share my whole story in one interview whether it was with a magazine or whatever it is,” continued Lovato. “That’s why I wanted to turn it into a documentary.” Demi Lovato in ‘Dancing with the Devil’ (screen capture)
Speaking to PEOPLE Magazine, the singer acknowledged that despite the difficult aftermath of the overdose being a painful journey, looking back today she “wouldn’t change a thing.”
“I get sad when I think of the pain that I had to endure to overcome what I have, but I don’t regret anything.”
“I’m so proud of the person I am today,” she added. “And I’m so proud that people get to see it in this documentary and I couldn’t be more grateful that I had someone by my side.”
The pop star has released two previous documentary films. Demi Lovato: Stay Strong in 2012 after her first stint in rehab, and Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated in 2017 which chronicled her struggles with bi-polar disorder and continuing addiction. Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil premieres March 23 on YouTube.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Being a native Texan, I’ve been checking in on my brother and friends who have been severely impacted by the terrible freezing cold catastrophe happening in the Lone Star state. As I’m sure you’ve seen, there are rolling blackouts (or just plain ‘blackouts’) happening across the state. My brother, like many Texans, went without water for a few days. And now 7 million residents are being told to boil water before drinking it as water treatment plants haven’t gotten back up to speed. First, Gov. Greg Abbott tried to blame the power outages on the Green New Deal which isn’t even effective legislation anywhere. Abbott pointed to wind towers freezing as a big part of the problem when wind only makes up about 7 percent of the state’s power. The real problem has apparently been the fact that natural gas lines froze, plus Texas has refused to spend any money on its energy infrastructure in forever. Warmer weather is thankfully on the horizon (my weather app says temps will get back up in the 40s on Saturday), but Twitter flipped out last night when it was discovered Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) boarded a plane for a family vacation to Mexico while his constituents are in the midst of a statewide emergency. Fox News reports:
Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, with his family this week as Texas dealt with a winter storm that left millions without power, Fox News has confirmed.
Photographs of Cruz, R-Texas, at an airport began circulating on social media late Wednesday, with people alleging that the senator had left the state for Cancun amid a major crisis. A Republican source told Fox News that the allegations Cruz was traveling to the Mexican city are true.
“The photos speak for themselves,” the source said. Cruz’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Thursday morning.
Cruz put out a statement saying his family asked to go on a vacation so he accompanied them to Cancun but meant to return today. But there are reports his original return ticket was for Saturday. Not a good look abandoning your state during an enormous natural disaster, Rafael.
Guess which US Senator from Texas flew to Cancun while the state was freezing to death and having to boil water? pic.twitter.com/fNY00EmMMR
Cruz's statement suggests he always planned to come back today and wasn't planning to vacation in Mexico. This report indicates he's lying. https://t.co/qljaKdbYIh
Heidi Cruz is a managing director at Goldman Sachs and a Harvard graduate. I think she's entirely capable of navigating airports with her kids on her own. Ted Cruz is a liar, a fraud, and a human piece of garbage.
Promo photo for ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Some news items you might have missed: • NewNowNext: A new documentary special, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Corona Can’t Keep A Good Queen Down, takes fans behind the scenes to see how the Emmy Award-winning series pulled off shooting a new season amid COVID-19. • Broadway Cares: The fan-inspiring, steamy stream of ABC Daytime: Back on Broadway, a nostalgic evening of song and conversation with the stars of All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, raised a stellar $130,565 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway. • Kenneth-in-the-212: It’s Wrestle Wednesday over on KIT212 – click over to see this week’s athletic twunk. (image via kenneth-in-the-212) • Washington Blade: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) signaled he would oppose the Equality Act, legislation to expand the prohibition on anti-LGBTQ discrimination under federal law, unless Christians get a carve-out to discriminate based on religious grounds. • Revry: The queer streaming platform celebrates Black History Month with an entire February calendar highlighting incredible Black Queer content made by and for the community. Check out the 2019 film Trade which tells the tale of two men, one a streetwise hustler, the other a straight-laced lawyer, who meet and form a relationship that brings to light who they really are. • Disney: Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (La La Land) stars in Disney’s Cruella, an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. Due out May 2021.
• NBC News: Tim Boyd, mayor of Colorado City, Texas, resigned after lashing out at constituents who have been paralyzed by this week’s devastating cold snap. In a Facebook post, Boyd told town residents to stop complaining about the cold weather that has left millions across Texas stranded without power. “No one owes you or your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim, it’s your choice!” • CNN: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly laughed about Donald Trump’s recent attack statement and has no plans to engage the former President. He’s done talking Trump, with plans to focus on push to take back Senate and focus on Biden agenda. “He’s moving on,” one source said.
“You probably are not going to hear him utter the name Donald Trump ever again,” per one source. Trump also claimed McConnell “begged” for his support and gave McConnell a 20-point boost in polls. The claim has no basis in reality, per sources. McConnell is not planning to engage
Michael Cimino in ‘Love, Victor’ (promo photo) Michael Cimino, star of the Hulu series Love, Victor, says he’s been on the receiving end of homophobic messages since taking on the role of a gay-questioning high school student. In a video chat with Attitude Magazine, Cimino (who identifies as straight) was asked about viewers who might struggle to separate actors from their characters and whether he’d experienced any homophobia since the launch of the series. Cimino acknowledged he had.
“To be honest, I actually have gotten homophobic messages. What’s the craziest part is, it’s like sometimes, it’s from people I know, which is even crazier.
“I think it just kind of shows where the world’s at, and possibly how much this show is actually needed. I feel like it starts a conversation, and I think that’s the most important thing. Especially in a time like the world is right now, we need more conversations started.”
Michael Cimino (screen capture via Attitude) Asked how he responded to the homophobic remarks, the 21-year-old explained he took the moment as an opportunity to educate.
“As far as when it was people I know, I would either kind of lean into it, and be like, ‘OK, and what?’ or I would try to enlighten them as much as I possibly could.”
“To be honest, there are so many undertones of understated homophobia in the world. And a lot of people have these little microaggressions that they don’t realize are actually homophobic. And when they do stuff like that, they’re sending homophobic messages.”
“I feel like the best thing to do is try to educate them or realize that they’re ignorant and you can’t really say anything that’s going to help them, unfortunately.”
While Cimino got some pushback from playing the role of “Victor,” a lot of the world celebrated the series. When Love, Victor debuted last June, it became the streaming platform’s number one drama and was quickly renewed for a second season. Love, Victor premieres in the UK on February 23 on the Disney+ platform Star.
