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News Round-Up: November 12, 2020

CNN’s Phil Mattingly (image via GregInHollywood)
Some news items you might have missed: • GregInHollywood: So, basically, everyone became pretty smitten with CNN’s Phil Mattingly (above) as he expertly handled ballot count recaps at the famed Magic Wall. Prior to joining CNN in 2105, Mattingly was at Bloomberg News where he was a national political correspondent. • Instinct Magazine: After being attacked for having a porn past during his race for New Mexico’s House of Representatives, Roger Montoya won the race for state District 40 with 56.8 percent of the vote against his Republican opponent Justin Salazar-Torrez (who received 43.2 percent). The 59-year-old Democrat addressed the accusations and confirmed he had appeared in two adult films in the 1980s when he was 22. • Out: Bi, trans, and nonbinary folks in Norway are celebrating a huge win after the country recently expanded its penal code that previously only protected lesbian and gay people from hate speech to include gender identity and all forms of “sexual orientation.” • HuffPost: The Trump campaign’s primary source of “evidence” of ‘voting irregularities’ in Detroit apparently consists of pages of affidavits and complaints from Trump supporters about social distancing measures, and some people in the polls were wearing “Black Lives Matter” face masks and shirts. A woman named ‘Karen’ was reportedly upset she parked in the wrong place. The white Republican poll watchers appear to have been ready to treat any and all actions by election workers as nefarious criminal activity. • Pink News: Hungary has announced it will move to ban adoption by same-sex couples claiming it’s ‘become necessary’ due to the coronavirus pandemic. LGBTQ Hungarians say the changes were deliberately drafted at a time when mass protests were not possible due to the coronavirus pandemic. • Reuters: News bureau fact-checks false allegations of voter fraud in a video clip showing workers picking up mail-in ballots from ballot drop boxes in Los Angeles “after Election Day.” Some users referring to the videos allege the scene is proof of “election fraud.” Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) told Reuters the ballots shown in these videos “are valid ballots and will be processed and counted in our Official Election Canvass. All vote by mail ballot drop boxes were closed and locked at 8 PM on Election Day. Ballots from all boxes throughout the County were picked up the following day.”

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Holiday Ad Celebrates ‘Family You’re Born Into Or The One You Make’

(image via screen capture)
Props to Ritz Crackers for the new holiday ad spot featuring all kinds of folks (including a multi-racial queer couple) showing up for family celebrations this Christmas. “The holidays are about spending time with family. Whether it’s the one you’re born into or the one you make.” On their ‘Taste of Welcome‘ website, the snack maker writes, “At RITZ, we believe everyone should feel like they belong. That’s why this holiday, we’re encouraging people to rethink what it means to be family.” The company is also partnering with The It Gets Better Project (which aims to uplift, empower and connect LGBTQ+ youth), Hispanic Star (showcases and amplifies the value and contributions of the Hispanic community), and Invisible People (which fights to humanize homelessness by putting a face to the issue) by donating $50,000 to help support communities in need this season.

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Coronavirus Update 11/11/20

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

No, Donald Trump Jr., the coronavirus has not ‘magically’ gone away now that the 2020 election has passed. With the virus surging in so many places both here and around the world, I wanted to create a way to share news related to the pandemic in an abbreviated manner. For more information on any of the stories below, please feel free to click the links. Per Johns Hopkins Hospital coronavirus tracking, the U.S.  has now reported 10,353,604 cases of COVID-19 resulting in 240,688 deaths. • CBS News: Texas became the first state to surpass 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. The second-most populous U.S. state, Texas now has more coronavirus cases than all of Italy, which was previously one of the major hot spots of the virus. California is close behind with over 986,000 confirmed cases, as is Florida with more than 852,000. • ABC News: Faced with more than 2,000 new daily COVID-19 cases in his state and hospitals at capacity, Utah’s Gov. Gary Herbert has declared a state of emergency and issued a mandate for all residents to wear masks in public until further notice. Herbert’s announcement implored all state residents “to do everything in your power to stop the spread of this disease.” • CNN: Following the positive news regarding the effectiveness of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper that an average American could potentially have access to a coronavirus vaccine by April of 2021.

• Pink News: Brazil’s homophobic president Jair Bolsonaro has told his country to accept coronavirus and stop dealing with it like “a country of fags”. The far-right leader made the remarks as his country has suffered over 5.7 million infections and 163,000 deaths from coronavirus. “We have to stop being a country of fags… We have to face up to it and fight. I hate this faggot stuff.” • Nevada Current: With the coronavirus surging in Nevada and nearly every state in the nation, Gov. Steve Sisolak urged people Tuesday to “to operate in a ‘Stay at Home 2.0’ mentality to get things under control so our public health response infrastructure can catch up.” Nevada has seen more than 1,300 cases a day over the most recent seven day period and hospitalization rates not seen since August. • The Hill: A top health department official in Wisconsin says that the state is nearing a tipping point at which some patients who need lifesaving care will be unable to receive it due to overcrowding in hospitals resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Daily Dance: Native American Celebrates Biden Win

Ashkia ‘Kia’ Randy Trujillo (screen capture)
This Navajo and Tewa man, Ashkia ‘Kia’ Randy Trujillo, spontaneously performed a traditional dance in celebration after learning of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. The footage, captured by photojournalism student Sharon Chrischilly, went viral garnering over 5 million views on social media. Trujillo told NBC News that the dance “tells of how a battle was won and how the evil was pushed away.” His joy is infectious. By the way, Trujillo cleared up some confusion some had about his red hat. It wasn’t a MAGA hat but a Chicago Bulls hat.

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Election Officials In Every State: No Evidence Of Voter Fraud Found

Donald Trump (screen capture)

Donald Trump during ABC News Town Hall (screen capture)
The New York Times reached out to the top election officials in every state of the nation inquiring about any confirmed illegal voting or fraud in the 2020 presidential election as alleged by Donald Trump and the Republicans. The answer – from Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State – was a unanimous ‘no.’

Top election officials across the country said in interviews and statements that the process had been a remarkable success despite record turnout and the complications of a dangerous pandemic.

“There’s a great human capacity for inventing things that aren’t true about elections,” said Frank LaRose, a Republican who serves as Ohio’s secretary of state. “The conspiracy theories and rumors and all those things run rampant. For some reason, elections breed that type of mythology.” 

Steve Simon, a Democrat who is Minnesota’s secretary of state, said: “I don’t know of a single case where someone argued that a vote counted when it shouldn’t have or didn’t count when it should. There was no fraud.”

“Kansas did not experience any widespread, systematic issues with voter fraud, intimidation, irregularities or voting problems,” a spokeswoman for Scott Schwab, the Republican secretary of state in Kansas, said in an email Tuesday. “We are very pleased with how the election has gone up to this point.”

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News Round-Up: November 10, 2020

Screen capture of CNN White House correspondent Boris Sanchez

Screen capture of CNN White House correspondent Boris Sanchez
CNN White House correspondent Boris Sanchez (screen capture)
Some news items you might have missed: • Mainstream Media Crush: I can’t believe I’ve never noted how enjoyable CNN’s Boris Sanchez (above) makes watching the news. That is all. #EyeCandy • Pink News: Last week, I reported how openly gay Mayor Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale was verbally accosted at his polling station by a group of Trump supporters calling him homophobic slurs.  Just thought I’d report he sailed to reelection with 58 percent of the vote. • Out Music: Check out the latest music video from out recording artist mxmtoon, “ok on your own,” featuring pop star Carly Rae Jepsen. The mid-tempo track explores the fallout of a breakup with the realization that sometimes it’s better to be “on your own” when a romance comes to an end. “I need some time to myself so I can comprehend/ I’m not so scared to admit I could use a friend.”

• USA Today: Nine legal experts say Trump’s lawsuit challenging election results in Pennsylvania is dead on arrival for a number of reasons: Courts are wary of invalidating legally cast ballots, and voting by mail, used in many states, is both common and constitutional. • Statista: Following Pfizer’s announcement that its vaccine candidate was found to be 90 percent effective against COVID-19 in phase 3 trials, shares of travel industry stocks like hotels and airlines went soaring across the globe. Interestingly, the news also sent some shares tumbling for such “pandemic winners” as Zoom Video Communications, Peloton, and Netflix.

(graphic via Statista)
• Gothamist: Governor Phil Murphy is requiring indoor bars and restaurants in New Jersey to close by 10 p.m., one of several restrictions that he announced today to address a spike in COVID-19 cases. “There is more than anecdotal evidence that as the night wears on, probably for reasons that are obvious, people let their hair down,” Murphy said, while also sharing that the state’s positivity rate is at 7.52%. • MSNBC: President-elect Joe Biden threw some 12th level shade Donald Trump’s way when asked about Trump refusing to concede the presidential race. “At the end of the day, you know, it’s all going to come to fruition on January 20.”

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Postal Worker Admits He Lied About Mail-In Ballot Tampering

(stock image of a mail-in ballot)
A postal worker in Pennsylvania who claimed that a postmaster in Erie told post office employees to backdate ballots received after Election Day has reportedly admitted he lied. His claims have been spread by high ranking Republicans as evidence of “widespread voter fraud.” This was supposed to be the Republicans big “gotcha.” From the Washington Post:

A Pennsylvania postal worker whose claims have been cited by top Republicans as potential evidence of widespread voting irregularities admitted to U.S. Postal Service investigators that he fabricated the allegations, according to three officials briefed on the investigation and a statement from a House congressional committee.

Richard Hopkins’s claim that a postmaster in Erie, Pa., instructed postal workers to backdate ballots mailed after Election Day was cited by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in a letter to the Justice Department calling for a federal investigation.

Attorney General William P. Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to open probes into credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud, a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy.

But on Monday, Hopkins, 32, told investigators from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General that the allegations were not true, and he signed an affidavit recanting his claims, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation.

The original allegations were reported last week by Project Veritas, an organization that has been caught spinning fiction into made-up ‘facts’ trying to demonize the mainstream media. After being hailed as a hero among Trump supporters, a GoFundMe campaign was launched that raised over $135K for Hopkins – until the campaign was yanked down today in light of his reversal. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee tweeted the revelations late Tuesday.

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Michael Cohen Endorses Matthew Camp’s OnlyFans Page

L-R Matthew Camp, Michael Cohen (images via Instagram/screen capture)
For those who may not know, Cameo is a website where you can pay to have a famous (or infamous) person record a personal greeting for a birthday or celebration of whatever sort complete with negotiated script. Matthew Camp, the woofy go-go boy turned adult performer turned entrepreneur, recently tweeted a video clip of Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, extolling the fabulousness of Camp’s OnlyFans account. The clip was reportedly ordered through Cameo.

“I just want to say how amazing Matthew Camp is on OnlyFans. Having a blast enjoying every minute with you guys. Good luck. Love it. Stay safe. Stay COVID-free. And again, OnlyFans, having a blast with him.”

Cohen apparently charges $100 per message on Cameo. I’m going to guess that Cohen has no idea what kind of content is on Camp’s OnlyFans page. As I’m sure my readers know, OnlyFans is a website where subscribers can pay – usually between $5 to $15 a month – to access photo and video content uploaded by models and porn stars. Back in February 2019, Camp told the New York Times that he was clearing more than $10,000 a month on his OnlyFans page which he described as “online go-go dancing.”

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Supreme Court Appears Inclined To Uphold Obamacare After Oral Arguments

(stock image via Depositphotos)
Several news outlets report that at least 5 Supreme Court justices appear to lean against striking down the Affordable Care Act after oral arguments today in a case brought by the Trump administration. From the New York Times:

It was not clear whether the court would strike down the so-called individual mandate, which was rendered toothless in 2017 after Congress zeroed out the penalty for failing to obtain insurance. But the bulk of the sprawling 2010 health care law, which is President Barack Obama’s defining domestic legacy, appeared likely to survive its latest encounter with the Supreme Court.

In legal terms, the key justices said the mandate could be severed from the rest of the law.

“It does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place — the provisions regarding pre-existing conditions and the rest,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. made a similar point. “Congress left the rest of the law intact when it lowered the penalty to zero,” he said.

The three justices who make up the court’s more liberal wing – Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan – all seem inclined to uphold the ACA. According to a study by the Urban Institute, more than 21 million Americans would become uninsured if the law were to be struck down. A ruling in the case is expected by next spring.