Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a request to block a federal requirement for wearing face masks during air travel. Continue reading “Supreme Court Declines To Block Face Mask Requirement During Air Travel”
More than 500 flights on Christmas Eve were cancelled in the U.S. as the omicron variant makes its impact on holiday travel this weekend. Continue reading “Delta & United Cancel Dozens Of Christmas Eve Flights”
Some news items you might have missed:
• Gaily Grind: Amy Schneider (above) is the first transgender woman to qualify to compete in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, an annual tournament between the show’s top 15 contestants. The nine-time champ is still on a roll with $343,200 in winnings. Continue reading “News Round-Up: November 29, 2021”
More terror in the skies as an unruly flier seemed to have an unsettling meltdown on a flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City on Monday. There was yelling, growling, and even some gnashing of teeth. Continue reading “Unruly Flier Growls & Gnashes Teeth in Viral Video”
Yolanda Comager says she and her family were heading home from a vacation in Puerto Vallarta when her husband and two of their three daughters tested positive for COVID-19 an hour before their flight home. The couple had not been vaccinated. Continue reading “Family Tests Positive For COVID On Vacation, Nightmare Ensues”
(photo: Pexels/Chris Flaten)A scary situation in the skies on Friday as a Delta Airlines flight was forced to land mid-flight when a passenger apparently attempted to breach the cockpit.
Via KRQE:
A Delta Airlines flight on its way from Los Angeles to Nashville was diverted to the Albuquerque International Sunport Friday afternoon due to a passenger disturbance on board. Officials at the Sunport say there was a level four incident on the plane. They say typically means someone tried to break into the cockpit.
Sunport officials say the passenger was not able to actually get in the cockpit and passenger video shows the man being restrained by flight attendants and other passengers. Witnesses onboard say a man was yelling ‘stop the plane’ and went for the cockpit.
The plane reportedly landed without incident. The man’s identity has not been released.
Delta then flew the remaining passengers on to Nashville arriving about five hours late. You can see video footage taken during the flight below.
Philipp Tanzer today (screen capture via BBC)Some news items you might have missed:
• Pink News: Former gay porn star turned far-right “men’s rights activist” Philipp Tanzer (above) has failed to win a seat in the Scottish elections. Tanzer was a well-known porn actor and identified as gay until the age of 32 – but he then renounced his sexuality and began dating women.
• Variety: POSE star MJ Rodriguez has already booked her next gig – she will star opposite Maya Rudolph in an upcoming Apple comedy series. It follows Molly (Rudolph), a woman whose seemingly perfect life is upended after her husband leaves her with nothing but 87 billion dollars. Rodriguez will play Sofia, the hard-working executive director of the non-profit funded by her absentee billionaire boss, Molly.
• C&C: Gifs of actor Andrew Garfield shooting a movie scene in NYC wearing a fake penis have surfaced. In the images, you can see Garfield giving high fives and trying to hug people as he filmed a scene for Mainstream in 2019. Click the link to see uncensored gifs.
• ABC News: A new poll shows nearly 60% of people in Japan want the Olympic Games to be cancelled, less than three months before the Games are due to open. The Olympics, which were delayed by a year due to the pandemic, are set to open on July 23.
• AP News: The Transportation Security Administration said that slightly more than 1.7 million people were screened at airport checkpoints on Sunday, the highest number since March 2020, when travel was collapsing because of the coronavirus outbreak.
• Gr8erDays: The Hollywood nostalgia site celebrates the birthday of actor and race car driver Bruce Penhall as their Mantique of the Day for May 10. Penhall, who turns 64 today, is best known for his role on the NBC series “CHiPs” and the “Savage Beach” (1989) movies.
My hubby Michael had to travel on a business trip yesterday from Nevada to California.
My understanding has been that most major airlines require a face mask to board planes.
But when Michael got settled, the traveler on the other end of his row was clearly not wearing a mask.
And then there’s the personal wine bottle she somehow got on-board…? I hear that was confiscated later.
I reached out to the airline (who I won’t shame here) on Twitter via DM and they responded immediately.
At some point in the flight, the woman did don a mask (kinda sorta) but wasn’t wearing it correctly.
Just a snapshot of what’s happening out there in the world these days.
Ellen DeGeneres weighed in today on the “Great Recline” debate.
You may have heard about a video that recently went viral of a man punching the back of a woman’s chair on an airplane because she reclined her seat.
Social media began debating over the controversy over whether passengers should do this or not.
Ellen gave her opinion on the debate and reminded everyone of what she says at the end of every episode: “Recline to one another.”
I’m going to offer my opinion here.
I think it totally sucks that the man was stuck in the last row and his seat didn’t recline and he had very limited space.
As mentioned in the video above, he asked the woman in front of him to raise her seat up while he ate, and she did. The problem came about after he finished eating and she reclined again.
I’m claustrophobic. That said, I spent years getting on a plane every week while traveling with the touring companies of Broadway musicals.
Since all our tickets were bought as a big group of 30-40 people, I learned I had to plan ahead to avoid being in a situation like this. I would get to the airport early and try to change my seat assignment if I could.
Once or twice, it was unavoidable. I would beseech the passengers around me to consider my plight. Often, someone would take pity on me. Other times, I had to tough it out.
I would order drinks and close my eyes and meditate and wait for the flight to be over.
I think people purchase their seats with the knowledge that practically all of them recline. To me, you’re paying for that.
I repeat that I think it sucked the man was in the position he was in, but as an adult, he could have found a different way to cope.
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Some news items you might have missed:
• Official ‘Summer Ambassador’ Joey Hornyak (above) says “Summer is closely coming to an end. The best way to max out the beautiful days that remain is to kick back pool-side with a Grey Goose cocktail in hand.” I ain’t mad… 😉
• After announcing a new category – “Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film” – the Academy for Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has scrapped the idea, clearly meant to pander to a TV audience.
• NBC has announced a new Law & Order spin-off that will focus entirely on hate crimes.
• Dulles Airport has rolled out a new facial recognition system to check fliers into their flights in an effort to forego paper or phone-based boarding passes.
• A far-right anti-LGBT presidential candidate in Brazil was stabbed during a campaign stop.
• Twitter has finally permanently banned InfoWars nutjob Alex Jones for his off-the-wall, crazy-tunes antics.
• MNEK drops his latest single, “Correct,” just days before he releases his debut album, Language.
It’s an imaginative and powerful statement from a man who’s been in the music industry for 10 years.
While “Correct” openly addresses the pressure of delivering his debut, he openly expresses the struggles of being an out, gay, black man in this ever-challenging “Crazy World.”
Check out “Correct” below.