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Miami Winter Party Attendee Dies Due To COVID-19

Israel Carreras (image via Facebook)
From WSVN in Miami:

Miami-Dade County has reported its first two coronavirus-related deaths, and one of them has been identified as a 40-year-old man with no prior health issues or complications, according to family members.

Israel Carreras was identified as the first death in Miami-Dade, Friday. Later that evening, a 79-year-old man was reported as the county’s second death.

Carreras succumbed to the virus after his friends said he contracted it during the Winter Party Festival in Miami, where several other cases of the virus had appeared.

Carreras’s partner, Franco Conquista, told WSVN he stayed with Carreras at his home, taking care of him for two days, as he also had been infected. Conquista says Carreras eventually found it difficult to breathe so he went to the hospital. But after four or five days the doctors put him in an induced coma because he was really agitated. The sleep state keeps patients who might be anxious about breathing from removing a respirator out of panic. Carreras never regained consciousness. The 40-year-old Cuban native had lived in South Florida for several years, and friends described him as a hard worker who often clocked in around 14 hours per day at a warehouse. He also drove as an Uber driver in order to save money to send to his family in Cuba each month. As Conquista is still self-isolating himself, he wants people to know “this is serious.” “They need to stay at home,” he told the news station. “It doesn’t just kill old people. This poor boy had only 40 years old. It can kill anybody, so just stay home and think of other people. Try to save other people’s lives. Just because you are not affected directly doesn’t mean that people are not suffering from this.”

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New York Governor Postpones Presidential Primary To June 23

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday he will postpone the New York presidential primary originally scheduled for April 28 due to the coronavirus threat.

From the New York Times:

“I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote, a lot of people touching one doorknob, a lot of people touching one pen,” Mr. Cuomo said in a news conference. “So we are going to delay that and link it to an election that was previously scheduled on June 23.”

A primary for state legislative and congressional races had already been set for June 23, and now all of the state’s primary elections will be held on the same date, he said.

Ten other states, as well as Puerto Rico, have rescheduled their primary elections as the campaign calendar has been upended by the outbreak, citing guidance from health officials who have urged people to avoid gathering spots, including polling places.

A handful of other states have switched to voting entirely by mail and have extended deadlines for doing so.

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Trump Wants His Signature On Stimulus Checks As If He’s Giving Americans Money

Donald Trump (photo: public domain)
The Wall Street Journal reports Donald Trump would like to see his signature on the stimulus checks that will be sent out after he signed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package into law Friday, according to an administration official. Normally such checks would be signed by a disbursing officer, not the president. Trump always wants “credit” for everything that happens in the country, and a check bearing his signature could appear to some as if the Donald is giving Americans these funds when actually the American people are writing the checks.

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News Round-Up: March 27, 2020

Ryan Worley (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Chippendales’ Ryan Worley (above) has the right idea for a Friday night. Man, this week kinda kicked my butt… How are you folks doing? Thinking best thoughts everyone’s way. • Fox News: Former Vice President Joe Biden bests President Donald Trump by nine points in a 2020 ballot test, in the first Fox News Poll since Biden became the de facto Democratic nominee. Notably, Biden has an eight-point edge in battleground states (48-40 percent). However, Biden’s advantage grows to 25 points, 57-32 percent, in close counties (where Hillary Clinton and Trump were within 10 points in 2016). • NewNowNext: Click over to read a deep dive into the many husbands of “Joe Exotic,” one of the stars of the bizarre docu-series Tiger King. I watched the first two episodes last night after seeing everyone talk about it. It’s quite the odd assortment of big cat ‘private zoo’ characters. • Out Music: Bounce into the weekend with this new cut from Bright Light Bright Light – “This Was My House,” a sugar-rush of dancefloor pop featuring Madonna’s longtime backing vocalist duo Niki Haris and Donna De Lory. “The song is about how the safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community have been fractured of late with a palpable uprising of anti-LGBTQ+ and xenophobic rhetoric, which is scarily even more real now as these public spaces are closed for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the artist.

• NY Daily News: New Yorkers should be prepared for the city to remain in “pause” due to coronavirus through May even as President Trump gives Americans “false hope” the country will reopen by Easter next month, Mayor de Blasio said Friday. “We have to be ready for that and I think it’s going to spread in the country,” de Blasio said when asked if the city would be closed through May. “This idea of Easter is, unfortunately, a false hope. It would be better for the president to be blunt with people that we’ve got a really tough battle ahead.” • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the best of local gay rags in the U.S. and around the world including DNA Magazine featuring Nordic hottie Patrik Isoaho (below).

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Asked If Everyone Who Needs Ventilator Will Get One, Trump Snaps ‘Don’t Be A Cutie Pie’

Donald Trump (screen capture)
A reporter at a press conference asks a question hoping to get a direct question. But that doesn’t happen with Donald Trump. At today’s White House press briefing ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked Trump, “Are you able to guarantee, to assure these states, these hospitals, that everybody who needs a ventilator will get a ventilator?” “Here’s what I’ll tell you – I think we’re in really good shape,” replied Trump. “This is a pandemic the likes of which nobody’s seen before. I think we’re in great shape. Ventilators are a big deal. We’ve distributed vast numbers of ventilators, and we’re prepared to do vast numbers. I think we’re in great shape. I hope that’s the case. I hope we’re going to have leftovers so we can help other people, other countries.” You’ll note the Trumpster didn’t answer the question. Still looking for an answer, Karl repeated, “Will everyone who needs one be able to get a ventilator?” “Look, don’t be a cutie pie, ok?” snapped Trump. “Nobody’s ever done what we’ve done. Nobody’s done anything like we’ve been able to do. And everything I took over was a mess. It was a broken country in so many ways, in so many ways other than this. We had a bad testing system, we had a bad stockpile system, we had nothing in the stockpile system. So I wouldn’t tell me what you’re — you know, like, being a wise guy.” Still no answer as to if everyone who needs a ventilator will get one. Just a word salad. Watch the exchange below.

After being critical of some states’ governors, Trump was asked what more he wanted the governors to do? Trump answered, “I want them to be appreciative. I don’t want them to say things that aren’t true. I want them to be appreciative.” He added later, “You know what I say? If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.” So, for Americans to get help from the federal government, Trump needs his butt kissed. Got it.

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House Passes Coronavirus Stimulus Package

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
From CNN:

The House of Representatives on Friday approved a historic $2 trillion coronavirus response stimulus package, clearing the way for President Trump’s signature.

The far-reaching legislation stands as the largest emergency aid package in US history. It injects a massive financial boost into a struggling economy with provisions aimed at helping American workers, small businesses and industries grappling with the economic disruption.

Key elements of the package include sending checks directly to individuals and families, an expansion of unemployment benefits, money for hard-hit hospitals and health care providers, financial assistance for small businesses and $500 billion in loans for distressed companies.

The bill now heads to Donald Trump’s desk where he will sign it into law later today. As I previously reported, Rep. Thomas Massie went into the chamber with a pre-announced plan to call for a full vote by the House members. Because of that threat, hundreds of lawmakers were forced to return to Washington to ensure a quorum was present. When Massie asked for his voice vote, Rep. Anthony Brown, the presiding officer in the speaker’s chair, pointed out that not enough members stood up to back his request. House rules require one-fifth of lawmakers to stand up in support of such motions. Massie protested saying there was not a quorum of lawmakers present. And so, Brown called for a count of the lawmakers present in the chamber and galleries and found there were enough members present. “A quorum is present. The motion is adopted,” he ruled.

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Gay Man Becomes First Nurse To Die From Coronavirus In NYC

Kious Jordan Kelly (image via Mount Sinai Hospital)
As the number of coronavirus infections has surpassed over 20,000 in New York City, an openly gay man has become the first nurse to die there from COVID-19. Kious Jordan Kelly, 48, who worked as a nurse manager at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan, shared his diagnosis with his sister on March 18 from the intensive care unit via text message. He couldn’t call her because he was on a ventilator. “I’m okay. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. They’ll worry,” he wrote to his sister, Marya Patrice Sherron, according to the New York Times. He passed away less than a week later on Tuesday evening. Sherron took to Facebook to share the news of her brother’s death and express her anger. “His death could have been prevented,” wrote Sherron. “I’m angry, He was healthy.” Kelly’s co-workers also voiced their anger as well posting on social media channels that they didn’t have proper protective equipment (PPE) at their hospital as they worked with patients diagnosed with the virus. Nurses from Mount Sinai shared a photo of healthcare workers wearing black garbage bags as makeshift protective clothing with the caption, “NO MORE GOWNS IN THE WHOLE HOSPITAL. NO MORE MASKS AND REUSING THE DISPOSABLE ONES…NURSES FIGURING IT OUT DURING COVID-19 CRISIS.”
(image via Facebook/DianaTorres)
“Kious didn’t deserve this,” one colleague told the New York Post. “The hospital should be held responsible. The hospital killed him.” Nurses told the Post they were using the same protective equipment as they shifted from infected to non-infected patients since there weren’t any proper gowns available. Lucia Lee, a spokesman for the hospital disagreed telling the Times, “This crisis is straining the resources of all New York area hospitals, and while we do — and have had — enough protective equipment for our staff, we will all need more in the weeks ahead.” Mount Sinai issued a statement regarding Kelly’s death which read, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of a beloved member of our nursing staff.” “This growing crisis has already devastated hundreds of families and turned our frontline professionals into true American heroes,” the hospital network said. “Today, we lost another hero — a compassionate colleague, friend and selfless caregiver.” Friends and colleagues have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help ease the financial burden to his family of covering funeral and transport costs. (source: NY Times, NY Post)

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Trump Calls Out GOP Rep. Thomas Massie As “Third Rate Grandstander”

L-R Rep. Thomas Massie, Donald Trump
Donald Trump has now turned his ire on a member of his own party. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has issues with the Coronavirus Stimulus legislation that passed in the Senate earlier this week and now needs to be approved by the House. Massie has tweeted he plans to ask for a full vote of the House which will require members who are home in their own districts to travel back to Washington, D.C. which will cause the bill’s approval to be delayed. Trump took to Twitter to call the Republican out as a “third rate Grandstander:”

“Looks like a third rate Grandstander named @RepThomasMassie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress. He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous & costly. Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn’t their fault. It is “HELL” dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the “big picture” done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!”

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News Round-Up: March 26, 2020

Max Emerson and friend (photo: Charlie Nunn)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Cutie Max Emerson (above) offers this important public service announcement – “If you foster a doggo you don’t have to quarantine alone. Shelters need your help now more than ever, so if you’re one of the lucky people still financially stable please consider it.” • The Gaily Grind: A “traveling musical minister” who dismissed the COVID-19 threat as “mass hysteria” has just died from complications due to the virus. • Washington Blade: A cadre of 17 senators — including six former presidential hopefuls and one current candidate — are calling on the Food & Drug Administration to take another look at the ban prohibiting gay and bisexual men from donating blood amid the coronavirus crisis. • New Music: Pop sensation 5 Seconds of Summer drops their latest single, “Wildflower,” an 80s-inspired, upbeat power-pop bop. The band says they left out words from the chorus so that people can “make the chorus kind of a choose-your-own-adventure. Expect to hear “WildFlower” all over the place this spring and summer.

• Deadline: NBC has set 9 p.m. Thursday, April 23, for the series finale of Will & Grace and will precede it with a half-hour retrospective special hosted by Eric McCormack. The special will chronicle the series’ guest stars and its history-making moments from over the years, including the first male-to-male kiss on network television. Elton John and Norman Lear also will appear. • NewNowNext: In addition to her Las Vegas shows being postponed due to the coronavirus threat, Lady Gaga has announced she will also delay the release of her upcoming album, Chromatica, as well. “While I believe art is one of the strongest things we have to provide joy and healing to each other during times like this, it just doesn’t feel right to me to release this album with all that is going on during this global pandemic.” • Advocate: The gays asked for it, and #BeardEdgeEdge is here. During an Instagram Live session on Wednesday with Dr. Dara Krass, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg was looking pretty fur-tastic.

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Village People’s “YMCA” Honored By Library Of Congress

(image via Facebook)
The world’s largest library, the Library of Congress, has inducted the Village People’s disco-tastic gay anthem “Y.M.C.A” to its National Recording Registry. To be eligible for the consideration for the registry, tracks and albums must be least 10 years old and be viewed as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Written in 1978 by the band’s lead singer Victor Willis, the bop describes life at the Y as a kind of gay cultural center. It’s since gone on to be a mainstay at weddings and other social events. In a statement from the Library of Congress, Willis shares that he “had no idea when we wrote ‘Y.M.C.A.’ that it would become one of the most iconic songs in the world, and a fixture at almost every wedding, birthday party, bar mitzvah and sporting event.”

Also honored with inclusion in the registry this week is Whitney Houston’s pitch-perfect cover of the Dolly Parton hit, “I Will Always Love You,” from the 1992 movie, The Bodyguard.