Tag: coronavirus

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News Round-Up: March 6, 2020

Jim Newman (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Jim Newman (above) can wear a flannel plaid onesie like no one. Totally giving us lumbersexual in the pic above. #amiright? • NowThisNews: Donald Trump continues to spread dangerous misinformation on COVID-19 to millions of Fox News viewers.

• Washington Blade: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Thursday signed three pro-LGBTQ measures into law ranging from ensuring transgender students are treated fairly, expanding the definition of a hate crime to include sexual orientation and gender identification, and allowing localities to ban discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, or education based on sexual orientation or gender identity. • KIT212: Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in local LGBTQ publications like the latest issue of South Florida Hot Spots featuring Bar Mizrahi. • The Advocate: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit just upheld a preliminary injunction against the Air Force, which appealed the decision of a district court in order to continue the discharge of personnel simply because they are living with HIV. • Netflix: The streaming platform has canceled RuPaul’s scripted series, AJ and the Queen, after only one season.

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News Round-Up: March 5, 2020

The West End cast of City of Angels
Some news items you might have missed: • West End Theater: The Donmar Warehouse’s Olivier Award-winning production of the Broadway musical City of Angels (starring my college bestie Vanessa Williams above) hits the boards on the West End for its first preview tonight. Word in theater circles is the show is stylish, smart, and stunning. • Greenville Journal: A county in South Carolina was about to repeal a 1996 anti-LGBTQ resolution when religious dissenters, citing “traditional family values,” overwhelmed the County Council meeting just before the vote causing two council members to change their votes. • The Hill: Vice President Pence, who is heading up the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus threat told reporters today the United States does not currently have enough tests to meet the expected demand. • Washington Blade: Chris Johnson is one of my favorite LGBTQ reporters and he’s penned an excellent assessment of the historic candidacy of Mayor Pete Buttigieg: “He made a mark on American politics — and not just because he broke barriers as a gay presidential candidate.” • Washington Post: Now that Mike Bloomberg has exited the race for the White House, he has announced he plans to form an independent expenditure campaign that will absorb hundreds of his presidential campaign staffers in six swing states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina) to work to elect the Democratic nominee this fall. • Out Music: Maia, who records under the moniker mxmtoon, released her exuberant single and music video, “fever dream,” where she dances with her past and future self.  “We wanted to work with the themes of the single to make a video that exemplifies the nostalgia the lyrics evoke but also the courage to move forward,” shares the out bisexual artist. With a blissfully nostalgic lilt, mxmtoon’s vocals are soothing and sure. The sentimental, upbeat melody is a refreshing escape from the clutter of today’s current news cycle. Her 2018 debut EP plum blossom – recorded in her parent’s guest bedroom – has garnered more than 100 million streams on Spotify. You can follow her on Instagram here.

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Nine More Coronavirus Diagnoses In NY State

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he will resign amid allegations of sexual harassment

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (screen capture)
The New York Post is reporting nine more New Yorkers have tested positive for coronavirus bringing the current total to 22 cases in the Empire State according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Eight of the new cases are in Westchester, connected to a single New Rochelle lawyer, identified by sources as 50-year-old Lawrence Garbuz, while the ninth is on Long Island, Cuomo said.

The afflicted attorney’s wife, son, and daughter have also tested positive, as have a friend, his wife and three of their four kids, Cuomo has said.

A neighbor who drove Garbuz to the hospital has additionally been confirmed to have the potentially deadly disease.

Because he also has an underlying respiratory infection, Garbuz is currently hospitalized in Upper Manhattan, while the others are self-isolating in their homes.

In related news, the Dow Jones closed down another 969 points due to fears about the spread of the virus.

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News Round-Up: March 4, 2020

Billy Porter (right) on the set of ‘Pose’ (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • Instagram: Emmy Award winner Billy Porter (above) looks euphoric as the cast of Pose begins working on Season 3. “I couldn’t be more excited to be back on set with my @poseonfx family today to start shooting season 3 of this show that I’m so proud to be a part of. I can’t wait for y’all to see what we have in store for you this season – it’s going to be epic hennies!” • Washington Post: Bipartisan congressional negotiators reached an agreement today on a roughly $8 billion emergency spending bill to combat the coronavirus, hoping to send it to Donald Trump’s desk by the end of the week. The deal must still be voted on by the House later Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday. • New Music: Loving the latest from Malia Civetz, “Broke Boy,” a gospel-tinged, pop bop that finds Civetz extolling her guy’s assets even if they aren’t financial. Her raise-the-roof, full-throated vocals paired with a body-positive/sex-positive message is definitely a winning combination. I think we’ll be hearing a lot from the powerhouse vocalist. “I love my broke boy…there’s no credit card that’s gonna buy my heart, cuz I gave it all to a broke boy.” 

• Cape Town: Two teen boys, aged 14 and 17, allegedly gang-raped a lesbian over the weekend in an attempt to ‘correct’ her sexuality just a day before the annual Cape Town Pride Festival on Saturday. • NBC News: After failing to win any states on Super Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is reportedly “assessing” her path forward. Her campaign manager sent an email to staff Wednesday morning, saying that they are “disappointed” in the Super Tuesday results and that Warren will be “going to take time right now to think through the right way to continue this fight.” • Dazed: Straight men, like InstaHunk Ryan Yule (below), are apparently joining content-hosting fan sites like OnlyFans making soft porn for gay men. Yule makes a strong case for doing so: “I used to have a wank and wouldn’t get paid for it, and now, I get paid for it.” He reportedly has 250 subscribers at $15 a month. Minus the site’s 20 percent fee, that adds up to about $3,000 a month.

 

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Donald Trump: Coronavirus Is The Democrats New ‘Hoax’

While fears and the number of coronavirus cases keep growing, Donald Trump held a rally and Mike Pence – who the president put in charge of the government’s response – held a fundraiser. There are now 64 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States (over 85,000 worldwide) and the stock market lost over 3,500 points in one week, but Trump told his rally attendees that rising fears about the impending crisis is merely a ‘hoax’ brought by the Democrats. “Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus,” Trump said. “They have no clue, they can’t even count their votes in Iowa.” “This is their new hoax,” Trump continued, adding that attacking Trump’s response to the coronavirus is now the Democratic Party’s “single talking point.” Watch the brief report from Brian Williams below.

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Beer Drinkers Avoiding Corona Beer Amid Virus Scare

Admit it – you knew this story was coming. From the New York Post:

Some American beer drinkers are avoiding Corona, the beer, amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, according to a new survey. A surprising 38 percent of beer drinkers insisted that they would not, under any circumstances, buy Corona as the deadly virus spreads across the globe, according to the survey conducted by 5W Public Relations.

“There is no question that Corona beer is suffering because of the coronavirus,” Ronn Torossian, founder of 5WPR, said in a statement.

In fact, 14 percent of respondents who said they regularly consume Corona beer admitted in the survey they would not order the beverage in public. There was also some confusion as 16 percent of those surveyed said they were not sure whether the virus is related to Corona beer.

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Stock Market Rout Continues Over Coronavirus Fears

Stock markets around the world dropped for the sixth day in a row due to escalating fears that the coronavirus outbreak will affect economies across the globe. From the New York Times:

The S&P 500 fell 4.4 percent on Thursday, the worst single-day market slide for the market since August 2011. The index is on pace for its worst weekly performance since the 2008 financial crisis. Stocks in Europe and Asia were also hard hit on Thursday.

The sell-off came after public health officials in the United States and Germany said new patients in each country had no known connection to others with the illness, a development that could complicate efforts to track the virus. Cases of the virus have appeared in at least 47 countries.

The speed of the market slump has been stunning, with the S&P 500 falling more than 10 percent from its Feb. 19 high, a drop that Wall Street labels a correction to suggest the decline is more significant than a few days of downbeat trading.

The CDC has confirmed the first U.S. coronavirus case of ‘unknown origin.’ Donald Trump continues to deny the severity of the coronavirus threat.

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After Bungled HIV Outbreak, Pence Is The Guy To Head Up Coronavirus Efforts?

L-R Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump (public domain)
Donald Trump’s announcement that Vice President Pence would head up U.S. efforts against the spread of the coronavirus caused many to raise eyebrows given Pence’s woeful handling of one of the biggest HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history. From the Washington Post:

“He’s got a certain talent for this,” Trump said at a White House briefing about the virus, which has infected nearly five dozen people in the United States so far.

The announcement has cast light on Pence’s record as a lawmaker and his handling of a major public health crisis during his time as governor of Indiana. The worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history happened on his watch in 2015, which critics blamed on Pence’s belated response and his opposition to authorizing a needle-exchange program.

In 2011, as a member of Congress, he voted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Two years later, a Planned Parenthood clinic that had been the only HIV-testing center in Scott County, Ind., closed after public health spending cuts, HuffPost reported.

Two months passed from the start of the outbreak in 2015 before Pence declared a public state of emergency.

Pence’s solution for the HIV outbreak was to turn to prayer. It wasn’t until after 75 more people were diagnosed as HIV+ that Pence finally allowed a 30-day needle exchange program to be implemented. Pence also opposed condom distribution to combat HIV. That led, in part, to his overseeing the defunding of Planned Parenthood in Indiana. As a result, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Scott County, which housed the county’s only HIV testing center, closed in 2013. But this is the guy to spearhead the federal government’s response to a worldwide virus…? Sen. Bernie Sanders weighed in on the choice of Pence via Twitter: