Tag: James Mattis

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News Round-Up: June 4, 2020

DJ Thiago Oliveira (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: DJ Thiago Oliveira (above) getting in some straight-up social distancing at the beach in Spain. Follow the ‘Daddy Wolf’ on Instagram here. • NBC News: The Trump administration submitted a brief to the Supreme Court on Wednesday arguing that a taxpayer-funded organization should be able to refuse to work with same-sex couples and others whom the group considers to be in violation of its religious beliefs. • Out Music: Trey Pearson, who first found fame fronting the Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, channels LGBTQ Pride’s history of protest in his latest music video, “1984.” Pearson, who came out as gay four years ago, called the song “a love letter sent to us from the LGBT community of the ’80s” to inspire people in a time of crisis and uprising.

• Washington Post: Donald Trump’s former chief of staff John F. Kelly defended former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday over Mattis’s criticism of the president’s handling of nationwide protests. Kelly also dismissed Trump’s assertion that the president fired the retired general in 2018. “The president did not fire him. He did not ask for his resignation. The president has clearly forgotten how it actually happened or is confused.” • Out: Following fellow gay dating app Grindr, Jack’d and Scruff have announced they will disable their ethnicity filters in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. “We stand in solidarity with the fight against systemic racism and historic oppression of the Black community.” • Lincoln Project: The conservative anti-Trump PAC drops this new campaign ad writing, “Trump is no longer hiding that he’s a brazen authoritarian, so desiring of control and power that he’s willing to turn our once peaceful cities into #warzones.

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Former Defense Secy Calls Trump Out For Dividing The Nation

Ret. General James Mattis (photo: Defense Dept)
Since his resignation as Defense Secretary in December 2018, James Mattis has remained silent regarding Donald Trump’s performance as president. Mattis resigned as secretary of defense after the Trump administration announced a withdrawal of troops from Syria, citing differing views with the administration. But in an extraordinary statement, the decorated Marine general expresses his support for those protesting, calls out Trump for dividing the nation, and denounces the ordering of uniformed military to ‘dominate’ American citizens. Via The Atlantic:

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

[snip]

We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Park. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.

Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.

The full essay is well worth the read.

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News Round-Up: October 21, 2019

Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunk: Fitness trainer Ramses Principe (above) heading into the week like a boss. Make sure to follow him on Instagram here for more Monday motivation. • Irish Times: A man in Dublin, Ireland, thought he was meeting a Grindr date but was instead ambushed by a group of teenage boys with weapons. The victim, who needed medical treatment after the attack, says at least four teens armed with hammers came after him shouting anti-gay slurs including ‘faggot.’ • ABC News: Former Defense Secretary James Mattis trolled Donald Trump over the weekend at an event after Trump declared Mattis to be “the world’s most over-rated general.” Mattis clapped back saying, among other things, “I earned my spurs on the battlefield … Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor.” The ‘spurs’ comment was a reference to Trump’s many deferments from the Vietnam war.

• NY Times: Northern Ireland will soon have marriage equality to celebrate due to an amendment to a routine bill on governance that Parliament passed in July after the region’s governing assembly collapsed nearly three years ago. The amendment goes into effect tonight at midnight. Beginning January 13, 2020, same-sex couples will be able to give 28 days’ notice before marrying. • The Independent: In Elton John’s first memoir, Me, the popstar has some choice words about now-deceased Michael Jackson: “Every time I saw him in his later years I came away thinking the poor guy had totally lost his marbles. I don’t mean that in the light-hearted way. He was genuinely mentally ill, a disturbing person to be around. It was incredibly sad, but he was someone you couldn’t help: he was just gone, off in a world of his own, surrounded by people who only told him what he wanted to hear.” • Politico: Donald Trump reportedly stunned military leaders by demanding his ‘Victory Day’ parade at his very first Pentagon meeting. • Instinct Magazine: I am not mad at the hot daddy ASL interpreter who turned it out at Todrick Hall’s Haus Party World Tour this past weekend. #GetItDaddy

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Trump Kicks Defense Sec Mattis To The Curb Two Months Early

Donald Trump kicks Mattis to the curb early

We’ve heard reports for days now that Donald Trump is super-mad that outgoing Secretary of Defense James Mattis (who resigned this week because Trump unilaterally decided to pull all troops out of Syria) called out the president’s “rejection of international allies and his failure to check authoritarian governments,” as the New York Times writes, in his resignation letter.

The goodbye letter led to mucho bad press for the Trumpster.

So much so that now he’s decided Mattis will now be gone as of January 1.

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News Round-Up: June 26, 2018

Sexy hunks Brett Miles and Alex Abramov enjoy NYC Pride 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• Looks like InstaHunks Brett Miles and Alex Abramov (above) had a great time at NYC Pride this weekend 🙂

• A jury sentenced a gay man to death rather than life in prison because he’s gay and “we’d be sending him where he wants to go.” #Homophobes

• CBS News reporter David Begnaud, who has received widespread praise for his extensive coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, quietly came out publicly on Sunday tweeting a picture at a dinner with his partner, Jeremy: “Reporting the truth includes my own.”

• A new bill in Ohio would require teachers, doctors and government officials to notify parents if a child ever acts “in a manner opposite of the child’s biological sex.”

• NBC News reports that Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis is on the outs with Donald Trump because the Donald thinks Mattis “looks down on him.”

• Cher snuck into Chicago this past weekend to check out preview performances of the upcoming Broadway musical based on her life, The Cher Show.

What did she think? Always a straight-shooter, the Oscar winner said, “Some parts of it are really fabulous. We’re going to work on the other parts. In many parts, it was much, much better than I thought it would be. And there were no parts where I wanted to gouge my eyes out.”