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News Round-Up: November 2, 2020

Mike Taveira (photo: David-Simon Dayan)
Some news items you might have missed: • CNBC: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case concerning the rights of LGBTQ Americans on Wednesday morning in a dispute that advocates are warning could pierce holes in the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Arguments, which will take place just a day after the presidential election, will mark the first major fight to come before Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was sworn in a week ago. • Instinct Magazine: Taiwan held one of the few Pride Parades this year as nearly 130,000 people gathered to march, dance, and visit a Rainbow Market of 100 LGBTQ-owned or supportive businesses/organizations. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, other countries have gone without Pride events this year, but Taiwan has not had a reported diagnosis of COVID-19 since April. In total, the country has had only 554 recorded cases and only seven deaths nationwide. • Out Music: Out recording artist Mike Taveira (top image) offers his new single, “Karma.” An uber-catchy pop-bop groove, Taveira calls the track “the breakup anthem for anyone who feels like their ex has yet received the karma they deserve.” “I do believe in karma and I do believe she is coming,” says Taveira. “She just likes to wait for the perfect timing and I was impatient, which led to the song.”

• The Advocate: Parliament House, the iconic Orlando nightclub that has been serving central Florida’s LGBTQ+ population for 45 years, is closing, though the owners say it’s not a permanent closure. In a Facebook post, they tried to get the money for much-needed renovations, but they sadly couldn’t reach their goal. • The Signorile Report: Michelangelo takes a look at what it will take for a President Joe Biden to get The Equality Act passed in his first 100 days as promised. • KIT212: I’m catching up on Kenneth’s weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications like DNA Magazine’s 250th issue featuring cover model Julian Gabriel (below).

(image via DNA Magazine)

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Judge Rejects Bid By Texas Republicans To Throw Out 127K Drive-Thru Ballots

A high school senior was expelled right before the school year for coming out as gay and proud U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, a George W. Bush appointee, has rejected a bid by Texas Republicans to throw out 127,000 ballots cast in Harris County (Houston) due to lack of standing. The Republicans tried to argue that drive-thru sites (which were approved months ago by the Texas Secretary of State) are less secure than in-person polling sites, but Judge Hanen said, “I ain’t buying that.” If you want to understand why the GOPers wanted the votes tossed – Harris County is 25% Black and 43% Latinx.

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Judge Rules Against Trump Attempt To Delay Counting Nevada Ballots

A District Court judge in Nevada has ruled against the Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans’ attempt to delay counting mail-in ballots in the Democratic stronghold of Clark County. The judge wrote in his decision that the plaintiffs failed to produce any evidence that would precipitate intervening in the counting of votes. From the Nevada Independent:

A District Court judge has again blocked efforts by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and the Nevada Republican Party to delay the counting of mail ballots in populous Clark County over alleged issues with signature verification and observation plans — saying their claims largely lacked evidence or standing necessary for last-minute judicial intervention in the election process.

Carson City District Court Judge James Wilson issued the order Monday morning denying the request to halt mail ballot processing after a lengthy evidentiary hearing held telephonically last week. The decision ensures that Clark County — by far the largest county in the state — will continue its process for counting and processing the record number of mail ballots submitted for the 2020 election, without any delays that could potentially bottleneck results on Election Night.

Longtime Nevada political pundit Jon Ralston issued his prediction earlier this morning that Biden would carry the Silver State by about 4 points mainly due to a 90,000+ lead run up by Democrats in Clark County during early voting and mail-in ballots received.

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Biden Continues To Lead In Final Pennsylvania Poll

This is post is to be considered as an encouragement to make sure you get out and vote and not in any way to lead to complacency. We did that four years ago. Don’t do it again. From Pittsburgh’s CBS News affiliate KDKA:

A new Monmouth University poll has former Vice President Joe Biden with a 5-point to 7-point lead over President Donald Trump among likely voters in Pennsylvania.

According to the poll results, Joe Biden leads President Trump by a 51% to 44% margin among likely voters, if vote turnout is high.

In a low turnout scenario, which could happen if a large number of mail-in ballots were to be rejected, Biden leads President Trump by a 50% to 45% margin among likely voters.

The new survey indicates Biden’s support from young voters and people of color is helping to offset Trump’s gains among senior voters and the most competitive counties in the commonwealth. Also – the ongoing pandemic is affecting the election as more voters trust Biden to handle the coronavirus pandemic than Trump.

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Parody: Randy Rainbow Ponders ‘How Will You Vote?’

Randy Rainbow turns in this musical rumination on which presidential candidate to vote for (hint – yeah, you already know the answer) set to the tune of Enchanted’s “How Will You Know?” Rainbow first ticks off some of Donald Trump’s, umm, qualities:

Well, does he give a flying f**k about whether you live or die? Cover-up his crimes and wish them all away? Does he lock children in cages? Act like Nazis are okay? That’s how you know, that’s how you know that he’s the one.

And then’s there’s his assessment of Joe Biden:

Does he leave you little clues that let you know he’s not insane? Have a plan in place you know he’ll carry through? If he isn’t porkin’ Putin and he pays his taxes, too That’s how you know, that’s how you know he’s the one.

In the end, it all comes down to “One’s an incompetent toddler, the other one’s name is Joe, that’s why it’s Joe – He’s the one.”

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Trump: ‘It’s Terrible When A State Can Tabulate Votes For A Long Time’

Speaking to reporters during a campaign stop in North Carolina, Donald Trump railed against the idea that ballots – specifically mail-in ballots preferred by Democrats in this presidential cycle due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – would be counted past election night. Basically, Trump is arguing that millions of voters be disenfranchised by having their ballot thrown out if it’s not counted by midnight on Election Day. “I think it’s a terrible thing when a state can tabulate ballots for a long time after an election is over. Cause it can only lead to one thing and that thing is very bad. I think it’s a very dangerous terrible thing. And I think it’s terrible when we can’t know the results of an election the night of an election in a modern-day age of computers. Trump also warned that he plans on going into states “the night of, as soon as that election is over, we’re going in with our lawyers.” He added, “If people wanted to get their ballots in, they should have gotten their ballots in long before that.” As everyone knows at this point, every state sets its own rules for when a ballot can be accepted and counted. Some states have laws allowing a ballot to be counted as long as they are postmarked the day of the election and received within a certain number of days. In other states, the ballot has to be received by Election Day. Plus, some states (Arizona, Florida, Nevada) begin processing mail-in ballots before Election Day but others (North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan) won’t begin to tabulate those ballots until November 3. Here’s a breakdown of when key states will begin to start counting ballots as well as their cutoff dates for receiving those mail-in votes.

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WTF: Adult Performer Tweets ‘Covid 19 Isn’t Deadly Enough’

Adult performer Quin Quire
Adult performer Quin Quire
Adult performer Quin Quire (images via screen capture)

Porn performer Quin Quire (nope, never heard of him) raised eyebrows on Sunday when he tweeted his opinion that “Covid 19 isn’t deadly enough.”

Quire’s tweet read, “Covid 19 isn’t deadly enough in my opinion. It’s good to kill off the weak from a population to ensure the BEST survival for the group. If it kills me it’s my time but I’m tired of letting the weakest people tell us how to live our lives. F**k you.”

A few minutes later, he followed that up with, “Meditate on, and accept the idea of your own death. Your life will be better for it. Happy #DayoftheDead.”

For those who don’t know, Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday recognized on November 1 and encourages remembering friends and family who have died. How Quire conflated remembering those who have passed with giving a thumbs up to the coronavirus isn’t clear.

It’s notable that Quire limited replies to the original tweet to people he mentioned in the tweet. Of course, he didn’t mention anyone in particular in the message.

The Twitterverse wasn’t sure if Quire, who refers to himself as an “adult film star since ’12,” might have been hacked, was serious in his messaging, maybe having a bad reaction to medications, simply cold-hearted, or just looking for attention.

(h/t Boy Culture)

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Tips To Stay Sane Through Election 2020

As the next several days could be turbulent (to say the least), Axios CEO Jim Vandehei penned a list of helpful hints to help cope with the upcoming social and political volatility we have ahead of us. Just a few bullet points that are definitely worth keeping in mind: • Vote and then chill until late Tuesday night. There’ll be dumb rumors, wild speculation and armchair projections, all of it meaningless. • Don’t expect a quick, clear winner Tuesday night. We can’t stress enough the chance of it taking days to fully count mail-in and absentee votes, to determine the real outcome in places like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. • Brace for the possibility of a “Red Mirage.” Because polling and modeling show Republicans are more likely to vote in person and Democrats are more likely to vote by mail, early counts could look heavier for the GOP than the final result, when absentee votes are all counted. So the trends could look more Trump-friendly than the final outcome. This is not a partisan belief; it’s a simple fact. (See the full “Red Mirage” segment.) • Don’t share social-media posts that aren’t from a source you trust and know well. Period. Too many people share too much garbage too often. Measure twice, tweet once (or, better yet, never). • Don’t overreact. You might see images on cable or social media of protests, or what seem like massive voter intimidation or issues. This can often seem bigger or more widespread than it is. Top officials tell us they fear Russia or other actors plan to amplify even the smallest issues to sow chaos. So don’t assume the worst. Click here to read more from Vandehei.

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Halloween Edition Of InstaHunk Round-Up

Is your Halloween costume on the Top 10 list?

It's my Halloween Edition of InstaHunk Round-Up. First up, Andrew Serkin and Pedro Gonzalez (above) decided on a 'classic' masked-up take for the holiday.
Pedro Gonzalez and Andrew Serkin (image via Instagram)
It’s my Halloween Edition of InstaHunk Round-Up. First up, Andrew Serkin and Pedro Gonzalez (above) decided on a ‘classic’ masked-up take for the holiday. The Rock was all set to become “the wisest king of all, Mufasa,” but unfortunately, the costume didn’t fit:

ABC News journalist Gio Benitez decided to embody “The Dark Forest:”

Jim Newman danced his way through the holiday with this inspired choreography:

Joe Woolley and Jim Schmidt totally embraced the spirit of the day (night?) in Nashville as Ironman and the Lion:

Nick Sandell‘s crew bounced out an Insta-costume change.

 

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Hope everyone had an amazing Halloween 🧛🏻‍♂️👻 @xoojacki @dawsonmofficial @brodyalvey

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Closing out this Halloween edition of InstaHunks with fitness guy Dan Tai throwing it back to shirtless scary skeletal goodness:

 

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Happy Halloween💀🎃 Trick or treat?😈🦇 Pick a photo!

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U.S. Reports Nearly 100K New Cases Of Coronavirus In A Day

The first confirmed case of the omicron variant in the U.S. has been discovered in California.

As Donald Trump tells his campaign rally attendees that the U.S. has “rounded the curve” of the coronavirus pandemic, actual facts say differently as nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases were reported on Friday – a new daily record. From the Washington Post:

The milestone — the first daily tally above 90,000 — came a week after the country passed 80,000 cases in a day, breaking the record set during a summer case surge concentrated in the Sun Belt. Experts have long predicted another spike in cases as cold weather sends many indoors and aids the virus’s spread.

The holiday travel season has public health officials worried too. And cases are surging in every swing state that is crucial to next week’s presidential election.

Total confirmed cases in the U.S. topped 9 million Friday, with the last 1 million recorded in just over two weeks. Increased testing alone does not explain the jump in cases; current coronavirus hospitalizations are steadily rising again, though they have yet to surpass the summer’s peak.

At least 229,000 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus.

On Thursday night, Donald Trump Jr. declared that coronavirus deaths had dropped to “almost nothing” and “we’ve gotten control of this.”