InstaHunk Petr Hollesch (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: I think what drew me to this photo of Czech fitness guy Petr Hollesch was his chill, subdued demeanor 🙂 Follow him on Instagram here. • Global News: Vancouver police are recommending charges of aggravated assault after a confrontation downtown Saturday that left a man with a broken leg. In a series of tweets, Sportsnet 650 host Justin Morissette said he “stood up to anti-gay evangelical bullies in the West End … and they purposely broke my leg for the trouble.” • Instinct Magazine: JLo recently released the trailer for the short film, Draw With Me. The film introduces the world to the pop star’s nibling, a non-binary term for a family member, Brendon Scholl. Scholl is the 19-year-old child of Jennifer’s sister, Leslie Lopez. • CNN: A California Superior Court judge has ordered Donald Trump to pay $44,100 to Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, to reimburse her attorneys’ fees in the legal battle surrounding her nondisclosure agreement. Clifford, an adult-film actress, went public in January 2018 with the news she had an affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007. • NY Times: Trump administration officials told congressional leaders last month they would probably give emergency approval to a coronavirus vaccine before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States, perhaps as early as late September. The move would be highly unusual and would most likely raise concerns about whether the administration is cutting corners on approvals for political purposes. • HBO: David Byrne’s critically acclaimed Broadway show American Utopia comes to HBO beginning October 17 in a one-of-a-kind film directed by Oscar and Emmy-winner Spike Lee. Recorded during its run at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre in New York City, David Byrne is joined by an ensemble of 11 musicians, singers, and dancers from around the globe, inviting audiences into a joyous dreamworld where human connection, self-evolution, and social justice are paramount.
Jerry Falwell Jr and friend After years of rumors and innuendo, Jerry Falwell Jr., the former president of Liberty University, has admitted his wife engaged in an affair with a ‘family friend’ who has been threatening to expose the secret. Falwell says he forgave his wife years ago, but in the ensuing years, he lost 80 pounds and experienced bouts of depression as the ‘family friend’ – who has been identified by numerous outlets as Miami pool attendant Giancarlo Granda – allegedly demanded money to keep the affair secret. Falwell was recently suspended by Liberty University after photos from a “costume party” surfaced earlier this month showing him with his pants partially unzipped and his arm around a female assistant. In a statement released to the conservative Washington Examiner, the virulently anti-LGBTQ Falwell said the affair between his wife Becki and their ‘pool boy’ occurred eight years ago and was short-lived. In May 2019, Reuters reported that a 2015 recording had surfaced between Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former attorney, and comedian Tom Arnold wherein Cohen shared Falwell had asked for his help in keeping “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public. In the recording, Cohen admitted to having seen the pics and described them as “terrible.” Falwell Jr. eventually endorsed Donald ‘Grab’em by the p*ssy’ Trump for president in the 2016 election. A year later, in 2017, Politico reported the Falwells had invested $1.8 million in a real estate deal involving their son Trey Falwell and Granda. In his statement to the Examiner, Falwell says he is relieved to have the secret out in the open sharing, “It was like living on a roller coaster.” Granda has publicly denied the allegations of extortion. “The Falwell’s attempt to sandbag me, and the Examiner, with a last-minute story without providing the Examiner clear evidence that this was not simply an ‘affair’ with concocted allegations of extortion reeks desperation,” wrote Granda in an email to the Examiner. “The WHOLE truth will come out.” Granda also reached out to Reuters and shared “emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987.” “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda told Reuters.
Cohen said someone had compromising photos of Mrs. Falwell in 2015 and he tried to help the Falwells handle the situation. A few months later, Falwell surprisingly endorsed Trump over Cruz, giving him support from a key evangelical leader. https://t.co/EGZ5vEgp17
It’s all been pretty well-documented, in Politico and other publications — now that he claims his wife was having an affair with the pool boy it all comes together. I had connected all the dots earlier this month.https://t.co/w9vDo6j9hg
— Michelangelo Signorile, subscribe to my newsletter (@MSignorile) August 24, 2020
Multiple reports this morning that Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back 7 times by police after he broke up a fight between two women. In a video clip shot from across the street, you can see Blake walking away from police and attempting to get in his SUV where his three small children were when the officer grabs Blake’s t-shirt and begins shooting. From CBS News:
A large crowd of protesters gathered following the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday. He was identified by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers as Jacob Blake. The county declared a state of emergency overnight curfew, according to CBS Milwaukee affiliate WDJT-TV.
The man was transported to the hospital in serious condition, according to police. His father said on Facebook that his son is alive and in stable condition. Family friend Daniel Poneman tweeted that Blake is out of surgery, in the ICU and is “expected to make it.”
Graphic video that purportedly shows the shooting began circulating on social media. The video, which appears to have been taken from across the street, shows the man walking around an SUV as police yell at him with weapons drawn, with one officer closely following him.
As the man opens the driver-side door of the vehicle, the officer grabs the back of the man’s shirt and appears to fire several shots into the man’s back. At least seven shots are heard in the video, but it was unclear how many officers fired.
The Police knew that Jacob Blake’s children were in the hot car. They could have easily tackled him before he opened his car door if they were afraid he had a weapon in there. THERE IS NO EXCUSE! #blacklivesmatterpic.twitter.com/yGezwta3sM
The police officers who shot Jacob Blake 7 times in the back did not have body cameras. If nobody took that cell phone video, Jacob would not just be fighting for his life right now in the ICU but would be facing multiple charges by the cops and years in prison. Video everything.
Jacob Blake wasn’t committing any crime. Instead of asking why he didn’t comply, ask why an officer who was called to the scene for 2 white women fighting somehow shifted his attention to this Black man, drew his gun on him, and shot him 7 times in the back.
Donald Trump during a White House press briefing (public domain) Quite the bombshell just days before the Republican National Convention. It turns out Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, secretly recorded her aunt and the Donald’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, as a source for her family tell-all book. From the Washington Post:
“All he wants to do is appeal to his base,” Barry said in a conversation secretly recorded by her niece, Mary L. Trump. “He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this.”
Barry, 83, was aghast at how her 74-year-old brother operated as president. “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
In the weeks since Mary Trump’s tell-all book about her uncle has been released, she’s been questioned about the source of some of the information, such as her allegation that Trump paid a friend to take his SATs to enable him to transfer into the University of Pennsylvania. Nowhere in the book does she say that she recorded conversations with her aunt.
In response to a question from The Washington Post about how she knew the president paid someone to take the SATs, Mary Trump revealed that she had surreptitiously taped 15 hours of face-to-face conversations with Barry in 2018 and 2019. She provided The Post with previously unreleased transcripts and audio excerpts, which include exchanges that are not in her book.
As the Post points out, under New York law, it is legal to tape a conversation with the consent of one party, which in this case was Mary Trump. In the recordings, Judge Barry acknowledges the only thing Donald ever accomplished on his own were the six corporate bankruptcies his companies filed. Click over to the Washington Postto hear the Trumpster’s own sister say he has no principles and how they grew apart because he took credit for her success as a federal judge. The Trump campaign brushed the news aside calling it “sibling rivalry.”
WATCH: Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller responds to secretly recorded comments from President Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump. #MTP@JasonMillerinDC: “When you get to the White House you have family members who decide to voice their sibling rivalries.” pic.twitter.com/EAqsRxctwq
Rich Juzwiak, the out sex advice guy at Slate, recently advised a straight woman whose guy and his gaming buddies joke about gay sex all the time. In her letter, she says she and all his pals are on a text chain where they end messages with some “fellatio-related quip onto every. damn. sentence.” The woman (who signs the note No Homo) claims the jokes “aren’t hateful, per se, but they’re just constantly referencing gay, male-on-male sex, and to me, there often seems to be no discernible punchline.” The whole herd of heteros is all past 30-years-old and she says their gaming camaraderie is a big part of her social life. She adds that she’s “never seen even a hint of outright bigotry” from her boo and his buds. In fact, her partner is totally cool with her gay bestie and his boyfriend. Her question was: Is this a thing? Do hetero guys really talk like this? AND, (talk about lobbing a softball) does she need to ‘stand up’ to this ‘humor even though it seems to be ‘free from hate?’ Juzwiak is on the case and immediately points to sociologist C.J. Pascoe who calls this behavior “fag discourse.” Pascoe says “fag discourse” is the dynamic of straight (or straight-identifying) guys rib each other using gay jokes or take on so-called feminine attributes as a way of underscoring their masculinity. Pascoe says she found in her studies that the use of the word “fag” and the imitation of gay men are often “explicitly self-evaluated by boys as being not anti-gay.” Put another way, the guys say that even though they know they’re using an anti-gay term, their intent isn’t “anti-gay,” so they aren’t “anti-gay.” Juzwiak calls out the bs saying he believes “the view that one can joke about fags and fag behavior in a manner that is somehow divorced from ‘real’ homophobia is massively shortsighted.” Our man Rich says she should address the language but suggests instead of “scolding” the bunch of bros, she might want to strike up a conversation on the subject “that is more curious than accusatory.” “It seems to me a lot of toxic straight-male behavior is not quite conscious,” he adds. “They often know not what they do, but perhaps an intelligent conversation could help set them on the course to understanding it.” What do you think, readers? Who has friends who engage in “fag discourse?” Have you ever called it out? If so, how did the friends react? (source: Slate)
Driving Mr. Snoopy Sorry for the light posting today, dear awesome readers, I spent my first day out of the house with hubby Michael and the awesome Snoopy together. Today marks our 2 month anniversary with the Snoop, and we continue to feel blessed he adopted us. Of course, I spent the day on chauffer duty as you can see above LOL… #DogsRule
In a statement released to the conservative Washington Examiner, the virulently anti-LGBTQ Falwell said the affair between his wife Becki and their ‘pool boy’ occurred eight years ago and was short-lived. In May 2019, Reuters reported that a 2015 recording had surfaced between Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former attorney, and comedian Tom Arnold wherein Cohen shared Falwell had asked for his help in keeping “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public. In the recording, Cohen admitted to having seen the pics and described them as “terrible.” Falwell Jr. eventually endorsed Donald ‘Grab’em by the p*ssy’ Trump for president in the 2016 election. A year later, in 2017, Politico reported the Falwells had invested $1.8 million in a real estate deal involving their son Trey Falwell and Granda. In his statement to the Examiner, Falwell says he is relieved to have the secret out in the open sharing, “It was like living on a roller coaster.” Granda has publicly denied the allegations of extortion. “The Falwell’s attempt to sandbag me, and the Examiner, with a last-minute story without providing the Examiner clear evidence that this was not simply an ‘affair’ with concocted allegations of extortion reeks desperation,” wrote Granda in an email to the Examiner. “The WHOLE truth will come out.” Granda also reached out to Reuters and shared “emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987.” “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda told Reuters. 
Rich Juzwiak, the out sex advice guy at Slate, recently advised a straight woman whose guy and his gaming buddies joke about gay sex all the time. In her letter, she says she and all his pals are on a text chain where they end messages with some “fellatio-related quip onto every. damn. sentence.” The woman (who signs the note No Homo) claims the jokes “aren’t hateful, per se, but they’re just constantly referencing gay, male-on-male sex, and to me, there often seems to be no discernible punchline.” The whole herd of heteros is all past 30-years-old and she says their gaming camaraderie is a big part of her social life. She adds that she’s “never seen even a hint of outright bigotry” from her boo and his buds. In fact, her partner is totally cool with her gay bestie and his boyfriend. Her question was: Is this a thing? Do hetero guys really talk like this? AND, (talk about lobbing a softball) does she need to ‘stand up’ to this ‘humor even though it seems to be ‘free from hate?’ Juzwiak is on the case and immediately points to sociologist C.J. Pascoe who calls this behavior “fag discourse.” Pascoe says “fag discourse” is the dynamic of straight (or straight-identifying) guys rib each other using gay jokes or take on so-called feminine attributes as a way of underscoring their masculinity.
(via Instagram/BigKidProblems)
Driving Mr. Snoopy
Pascoe says she found in her studies that the use of the word “fag” and the imitation of gay men are often “explicitly self-evaluated by boys as being not anti-gay.” Put another way, the guys say that even though they know they’re using an anti-gay term, their intent isn’t “anti-gay,” so they aren’t “anti-gay.” Juzwiak calls out the bs saying he believes “the view that one can joke about fags and fag behavior in a manner that is somehow divorced from ‘real’ homophobia is massively shortsighted.” Our man Rich says she should address the language but suggests instead of “scolding” the bunch of bros, she might want to strike up a conversation on the subject “that is more curious than accusatory.” “It seems to me a lot of toxic straight-male behavior is not quite conscious,” he adds. “They often know not what they do, but perhaps an intelligent conversation could help set them on the course to understanding it.” What do you think, readers? Who has friends who engage in “fag discourse?” Have you ever called it out? If so, how did the friends react?