The Daily Show has put together this video montage remembering the highest heights of Lou Dobbs’s Trump bootlicking during the Donald’s time in office. Lou Dobbs was fired last week after Fox News was hit with a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by voting software Smartmatic. The lawsuit named the network, Dobbs, and his Fox colleagues Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. Dobbs’s show was cancelled the next day. Dobbs wets himself throughout the video praising Trump as a “true leader,” the country’s “greatest” president, and a man who “has set a standard for presidents that most mortals won’t be able to beat.” Perhaps the biggest whopper of all: “You’re also the most loved and respected in history.” Folks – this is how we got to the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building. Fawning over-praise like this for a man who couldn’t even bother to read intelligence reports.
Remember him? (via 2016 Super Bowl) Some news items you might have missed: • Super Bowl: So, I grew up watching tons of football because my dad was a sports writer. And I still enjoy it, so you can be sure I’ll be watching the big SportsBall game on Sunday for moments like the one above – remember the attention this ref (rightfully) received during the big game in 2016? • Out: Florida Democrat and one-time candidate for governor Andrew Gillum has opened up with more details of that fateful night in Miami when he was found in a hotel room passed out with a male prostitute. “At this point I’m like, ‘This is set up.'” • Kenneth-in-the-212: Don’t miss Kenneth’s weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications like Valentine’s hotties Franco & Roberto covering Hot Spots Magazine (below). (cover image via Hot Spots Magazine) • The Advocate: A group of 185 actors came out in Germany to demand more LGBTQ+ diversity in film, television, and theater through a manifesto in a national newspaper. Among the issues raised is the fear of losing the opportunity to portray straight people due to biases in casting. “We are actors. We don’t have to be what we play. We act as though we were — that is our job.” • LA Times: Fox News Media has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” the program hosted by one of Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters. The cancellation comes a day after voting software company Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News and three of its hosts — Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. • AP News: Johnson & Johnson asked U.S. regulators Thursday to clear the world’s first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, an easier-to-use option that could boost scarce supplies. The vaccine was 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, according to early findings from a study of 44,000 people, but it was 85% protective against the most serious symptoms. • Deadline: Christopher Plummer, who starred in The Sound of Music, won an Oscar for Beginners and was nominated for All the Money in the World and The Last Station, died peacefully today at his home in Connecticut, his family confirmed. Along with becoming the oldest person to win an Oscar, Plummer also won a pair of Emmys and two Tonys during a nearly 70-year career.
BREAKING: Actor Christopher Plummer has died aged 91.
Attorney General Bill Barr (image – Flickr/WhiteHouse) Donald Trump just tweeted the news that his Attorney General Bill Barr will be leaving his post. “Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” wrote Trump. “Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!” There have been numerous reports for weeks that Trump was VERY unhappy Barr told the press no evidence of widespread voter fraud had been found by the Justice Department. And so, out he goes…
…Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all! pic.twitter.com/V5sqOJT9PM
Quite a day.@JoeBiden elected (again) Bill Barr resigns We cross 300,000 deaths from covid in the USA The vaccination phase starts. And it's only 3 PM PST……
Donald Trump (image public domain/White House) Donald Trump has fired Christopher Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security cyber chief who declared the 2020 general election was the most secure in U.S. history. From the New York Times:
President Trump fired Christopher Krebs on Tuesday night, retaliating against his administration’s most senior official responsible for securing the presidential election.
Mr. Krebs, who has systematically disputed Mr. Trump’s baseless declarations in recent days that the presidency was stolen from him through fraudulent ballots and mysterious software glitches that changed millions of votes, had worked in the Department of Homeland Security.
The announcement came via Twitter, the same way Mr. Trump fired his defense secretary two weeks ago.
Mr. Trump seemed set off by a statement released by Homeland Security late last week, the product of a broad committee overseeing the elections, that declared the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history.”
…votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Chris Krebs did a lot of work this year to help state and local officials pull off remarkably free and fair elections with record turnout, under difficult circumstances. For this, he was fired by Donald Trump.
Trump just “terminated” Chris Krebs, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director. By tweet, of course. As predicted. His reason? That Krebs dared to call the Nov. 3 election “the most secure in American history.” The truth is kryptonite to Trump.
Stewing in the WH, the lame duck president just fired a leading cybersecurity official in Chris Krebs who vouched for the security of US election. Trump still has more than two months before he has to go. Two more months to settle scores and potentially cause great damage.
L-R Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper (images: Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain) Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to announce the news that he had “terminated” Mark Esper as his Secretary of Defense. From the New York Times:
Mr. Esper’s downfall had been expected for months, after he took the rare step in June of disagreeing publicly with Mr. Trump and saying that active-duty military troops should not be sent to control the wave of protests in American cities. The president, who had threatened to use the Insurrection Act to do exactly that, was furious, officials said.
Mr. Esper, 56, a former secretary of the Army and a former Raytheon executive, became defense secretary last July after Mr. Trump withdrew the nomination of Patrick M. Shanahan, the acting defense secretary, amid an F.B.I. inquiry into allegations from Mr. Shanahan’s former wife that he punched her in the stomach. Mr. Shanahan denied the accusations.
Mr. Shanahan had been standing in for Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense secretary in 2018, citing his own differences with the president.
…Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.
Ellen DeGeneres (image via Depositphotos)Variety reports executive producers Ed Galvin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman will depart from The Ellen DeGeneres Show after the production began an internal investigation into allegations of a toxic work environment that included sexual misconduct and racial insensitivity. During a videoconference on Monday, Ellen broke the news to more than 200 staff members reportedly becoming “emotional to the point of tears.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, DeGeneres said:
I’m so so sorry for what this has become.
I’m a multi-layered person, and I try to be the best person I can be and try to learn from my mistakes.
I care about each and every one of you. I am grateful for each and every one of you. I feel like I’ve kind of let the ball drop a bit because I’m focused on the show, I go in and I do the show, and I’ve just let everybody to do their jobs – to run different departments.
And it just became a well-oiled machine, and I think that is the problem. It’s not a machine. This is people. These are human beings that are working hard every single day to put this together. This show would not be what it is without all of you.
Executive producers Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner and Derek Westervelt will remain at the show alongside host DeGeneres, and the show’s resident DJ, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, has been promoted to co-executive producer. Michael Plonsker, an attorney representing Leman, issued this statement:
The fact that a deeply flawed BuzzFeed article has led to the termination of an innocent man – a popular figure and a creative force behind the Ellen show and a string of other projects produced with Ellen – is shocking. Kevin is devastated by being scapegoated and is not yet ready to comment.
At the end of July, Ellen had penned a mea culpa to the crew vowing to make changes. “As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done. Clearly some didn’t. That will now change and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again.” DeGeneres told the staff on Monday she fully expects the fall season of the talk show to “come back strong” when the series returns this September. DeGeneres was quoted as saying it will be “the best season we’ve ever had.”
Former Fox News anchor Ed Henry (screen capture) Fox News anchor Ed Henry, a veteran of the Washington political scene, has been terminated after a complaint from a former employee led to an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct from years ago. Via CNN:
“On Thursday, June 25, we received a complaint about Ed Henry from a former employee’s attorney involving willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago,” Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace wrote in an email to employees.
Scott and Wallace said that Henry was “suspended the same day and removed from his on-air responsibilities” while a third-party law firm investigated the matter.
“Based on investigative findings, Ed has been terminated,” they said.
Here’s the internal memo announcing Henry’s termination. Henry jumped over to Fox News in 2011 after a 7-year stint at CNN. He most recently was co-anchoring three morning hours of news coverage for the network. In the spring of 2016, tabloid stories began circulating that Henry was having an extra-marital affair. Then-Fox News CEO at the time, Roger Ailes (of all people), went so far as to publicly criticize Henry, saying “this raises serious questions about Ed’s lack of judgment, especially given his position as a journalist.” Ironically, Henry’s departure now follows that of Ailes and one-time Fox News star Bill O’Reilly.
Fox News fires anchor Ed Henry after an investigation into a sexual misconduct allegation brought by a former employee at the network https://t.co/Wnnl2Nzi1x
L-R Attorney General William Barr, Donald Trump (public domain) From the New York Times:
Attorney William P. Barr said on Saturday that President Trump had fired the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, who has investigated the president’s closest associates, deepening a crisis over the independence of law enforcement and the president’s purge of officials he views as disloyal.
Mr. Trump removed the prosecutor, Geoffrey S. Berman, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, after he had refused to step down on Friday night. The president’s announcement capped an extraordinary clash over an office that has been at the forefront of corruption inquiries into Mr. Trump’s inner circle.
In a statement released on Saturday, Mr. Barr said Mr. Berman had “chosen public spectacle over public service.” “Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so,” the statement read.
Jwan Yosef (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Ricky Martin’s hubby, artist Jwan Yosef (above), says he’s taking the ‘clothing optional’ approach to sheltering-at-home. #ThankGod Follow him on Instagram here. • NewNowNext: HIV hero Michael Cavnaugh was able to obtain 500 medical-grade masks and donated them to the volunteers at God’s Love We Deliver. The NYC-based organization and its network of volunteers provide thousands of free, freshly cooked, medically tailored meals every day to New Yorkers who are too sick to cook or grocery shop for themselves. • TV Insider: Check out this sneak peek from the upcoming series Love, Victor – the TV spinoff of the coming-of-age, coming-out feature film Love, Simon. You may never look at a latte the same way again. The series debuts June 19 on Hulu.
• The Advocate: Christiaan Otto, who has spent years spewing anti-LGBTQ vitriol and claimed the current health crisis is a punishment from God, appears to have been cruising for sex on Grindr. The group Expose Christiaan Otto posted screenshots of what it said was Otto’s Grindr account including a reported shirtless selfie. One message translates as “I thought I could trust you, dude. You say you deleted the Grindr chats. What are you trying to do? Delete and block me!” • The Daily Beast: Trump supporters Diamond & Silk (aka Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson) have been dismissed from their streaming gig on FOX Nation streaming service after promoting lies about the coronavirus health threat like the COVID-19 death toll is false, that the disease was made in a lab, caused by 5G networks, and was a product of the “deep state. #ByeGurls • Out Music: Pop/R&B vocalist Malia Civetz recently released her new single and video, “Heart Broke,” chronicling the relatable feeling of early, exciting, whirlwind romance – regardless of potential heartbreak. Malia’s passionate voice booms over the punchy production like a clarion call asking, “What’s a girl gotta do to get her heart broke?” Back in March, I shared Civetz’s “Broke Boy” music video here.
Captain Brett E. Crozier (image via U.S. Navy) Two classmates close to Capt. Brett E. Crozier, who was removed from his command of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt this week, say he has tested positive for the coronavirus. Crozier was relieved of his command for sending an email underscoring the dangerous health risks his crew faced regarding COVID-19 as dozens were testing positive for the virus. “We are not at war,” wrote the captain in his March 30 letter. “Sailors do not need to die.” From the New York Times:
The commander began exhibiting symptoms before he was removed from the warship on Thursday, two of his classmates said.
Crozier was fired following a leak to The San Francisco Chronicle of a letter he had emailed to Navy leaders that detailed the failures on the service’s part to provide the necessary resources to swiftly move sailors off the carrier and disinfect areas on board as the virus spread through the ship.
Thomas B. Modly, the acting secretary of the Navy, said he had lost confidence in Crozier’s ability to command the ship effectively as it dealt with the evolving crisis after Crozier sent the letter on an unclassified email system to 20 to 30 people. Sending such a letter, Modly said, caused unnecessary alarm about the operational readiness of the ship and undermined the chain of command. “In sending it out pretty broadly, he did not take care to ensure that it couldn’t be leaked,” Modly said. “And that’s part of his responsibility.”
In a briefing Saturday, President Trump offered support for Modly’s decision. “He shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter,” the president said of Crozier. “I thought it was terrible what he did.”
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper said there were 155 confirmed cases of coronavirus among sailors aboard the aircraft carrier, and that more than half of the ship had been tested.
For folks hinging on the social distancing piece of this Crozier Send-off video, this is where the crew sleeps. The whole point of the letter was that the environment they live and work in is impossible to enforce CDC guidelines in. pic.twitter.com/oNOwpHM9QB
Being a navy enlisted veteran I found this action unfathomable. His entire crew must be dumbfounded. Having served aboard a carrier myself, the very idea of any kind of isolation for those infected is a complete joke. Thank you captain for looking out for your crew. THANK YOU!!
The Daily Show has put together this video montage remembering the highest heights of Lou Dobbs’s Trump bootlicking during the Donald’s time in office. Lou Dobbs was fired last week after Fox News was hit with a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by voting software Smartmatic. The lawsuit named the network, Dobbs, and his Fox colleagues Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. Dobbs’s show was cancelled the next day. Dobbs wets himself throughout the video praising Trump as a “true leader,” the country’s “greatest” president, and a man who “has set a standard for presidents that most mortals won’t be able to beat.” Perhaps the biggest whopper of all: “You’re also the most loved and respected in history.” Folks – this is how we got to the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building. Fawning over-praise like this for a man who couldn’t even bother to read intelligence reports. 
Henry jumped over to Fox News in 2011 after a 7-year stint at CNN. He most recently was co-anchoring three morning hours of news coverage for the network. In the spring of 2016, 
