LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items I thought worth your time:
• Instinct Magazine: Out actor Tim Pocock (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Dance Academy) shares how he survived growing up gay in a Catholic cult-like environment, his mother sending him to conversion therapy, and more in his new book, The Truth Will Set You Free: Growing Up Gay In Opus Dei. Continue reading “‘X-Men’ Actor Tim Pocock On Surviving Conversion Therapy + More News”
Some news stories worthy of your time: • MetroWeekly: Jeremy Allen White, who took home a Golden Globe last night for his series The Bear, is the latest celeb signed as a brand ambassador for Calvin Klein – specifically the underwear line. Good choice. Continue reading “Jeremy Allen White’s New Gig + More News”
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| Jeffrey Epstein (mug shot) |
The Miami Herald continues its investigative reporting on now-deceased accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Today’s odd reveal is that during his leisure lock-up time in jail a decade ago, he purchased two pairs of small women’s panties from the jail’s store?
Umm…
It was just one of thousands of dollars of purchases made by the disgraced financier while in jail after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for sex, according to a purchase log. (His top purchase was single-serve cups of coffee, of which he bought more than 800 in 13 months.)
But the panties raise questions about why a childless male inmate, accused of sexually abusing girls as young as 14, would be allowed to buy female undergarments so small that they wouldn’t fit an average-sized adult woman.
The panties were certainly too small for Epstein, who also purchased his briefs in men’s medium and sweatshirts ranging from XL to 3XL, and size-12 shoes. So what, or who, were they for, and why wouldn’t the purchase raise eyebrows under the circumstances?
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| Jeffrey Epstein (mug shot) |
Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was able to commit suicide this past weekend without interference because the two guards that should have been watching him (fresh off of suicide watch) apparently fell asleep on the job for “some or all of” a three hour period of time, reports the New York Times.
The two staff members who were guarding the jail unit where Jeffrey Epstein apparently killed himself fell asleep, failed to check on him for about three hours and falsified records to cover up their mistake, according to several law enforcement and prison officials with knowledge of the matter.
Those disclosures came on Tuesday as the two employees were placed on administrative leave and the warden of the jail, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, was temporarily reassigned, pending the outcome of the investigation into Mr. Epstein’s death, the Justice Department announced.
The two staff members in the special housing unit where Mr. Epstein was held — 9 South — falsely recorded in a log that they had checked on the financier, who was facing sex trafficking charges, every 30 minutes, as was required, two of the officials said. Such false entries in an official log could constitute a federal crime.
In fact, the two people guarding Mr. Epstein had been asleep for some or all of the three hours, three of the officials said.
Epstein, 66, was found dead hanging from a bedsheet at approximately 6:30am on Saturday in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
He had been awaiting trial on charges he had sexually abused scores of teenage girls at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.
In related news, one of Epstein’s accusers, Jennifer Araoz, has filed a lawsuit against his estate, his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell and three unnamed female household staff, according to NBC News.
Araoz alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Epstein at his New York City townhouse when she was 14 and 15 years old, including a forcible rape in 2002.
She first disclosed her alleged abuse publicly in an exclusive TODAY Show interview with Savannah Guthrie of NBC News on July 10, the same day she filed papers in New York state court saying she intended to sue Epstein.
According to the complaint filed today, Araoz says Maxwell and the other staff members “conspired with each other to make possible and otherwise facilitate the sexual abuse and rape of Plaintiff.”
The Washington Post is reporting the warden of the federal jail where accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died of an apparent suicide over the weekend has been reassigned.
Additionally, two employees who were supposed to have been monitoring Epstein’s unit have been placed on administrative leave.
The move comes a day after Attorney General William P. Barr decried what he called a “failure” by officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan to secure the multimillionaire sex offender. In leveling his criticism, Barr cited unspecified “irregularities” at the facility.
On Tuesday, Barr “directed the Bureau of Prisons to temporarily assign” warden Lamine N’Diaye to a regional office, pending the outcome of internal investigations into Epstein’s death, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Two staffers who were assigned to Epstein’s unit at the time of his death were placed on administrative leave, the department said.
Saying he was “appalled” by the suicide death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein over the weekend, Attorney General Bill Barr told the press today, “We will get to the bottom of this and there will be accountability.”
Barr, who oversees the federal prison bureau, says there were “serious irregularities” at the federal jail in Manhattan where Epstein was being held.
He also promised any of Epstein’s possible co-conspirators “should not rest easy.”
“The victims deserve justice and they will get it,” said Barr.
NEW: Attorney General Barr on Jeffrey Epstein: “We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation.” https://t.co/COcnZV13pc pic.twitter.com/F9eKszn9hH— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) August 12, 2019
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| Jeffrey Epstein |
Convicted sex trafficker and Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein was pronounced dead at a hospital after hanging himself in his jail cell.
Two weeks ago, he attempted suicide. Aren’t prisoners put on suicide watch after suicide attempts?
Things that make you go hmm…
From ABC News:
He was found unresponsive in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center around 6:30 a.m., the Bureau of Prisons said. He transported in cardiac arrest to New York Downtown Hospital at 6:39 a.m., according to sources.
Epstein, 66, was set to stand trial next year for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of minor girls in New York and Florida.
His death came less than three weeks after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal prison in Lower Manhattan, with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told ABC News. He was placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but was not on suicide watch at this time of his death.
Epstein was arrested in July of this year for alleged sex trafficking of minor girls at his Upper East Side mansion and his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Some of the charges date back to the early 2000s.
Epstein’s death comes just one day after over 2,000 pages of records were unsealed which detail allegations by an alleged victim of Epstein that while working as a teenage locker room attendant at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort nearly two decades ago she was recruited to give Epstein massages that often involved sexual activity.
Epstein is dead less than 24 hours after documents unsealed showing inner workings of his vast sex trafficking operation. What else did Epstein know was going to come out? A lot.— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) August 10, 2019
A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably…Russian.— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 10, 2019
We won’t know the truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death until William Barr issues his 4 page summary.— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) August 10, 2019
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| Jeffrey Epstein |
From CNN:
Financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found in his Manhattan jail cell with marks on his neck this week, a law enforcement source and a source familiar with the incident said Thursday.
It is not clear to jail officials if the injuries, incurred Tuesday, were self-inflicted or the result of an assault, the law enforcement source said.
Epstein is awaiting trial at Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York. He is charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 66-year-old allegedly paid girls as young as 14 to have sex with him at his Upper East Side home and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. Federal prosecutors say he used employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and then paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.
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| Rugby legend and LGBTQ ally Ben Cohen |
Some news items you might have missed:
• InstaHunks: LGBTQ ally Ben Cohen is inviting supporters of his anti-bullying foundation to come out and join him for cross-training. I’ll go, but only if I can follow Ben 🙂
• New York Times: A federal judge on Thursday denied bail for Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing sex-trafficking charges in Manhattan, rejecting his request to await trial under home detention at his Upper East Side mansion.
• NPR: Some of Puerto Rico’s biggest stars rallied a crowd of many thousands in San Juan on Wednesday, calling on the island’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, to resign. It was the fifth day in a row of protests in the U.S. territory, following a leak of hundreds of pages of misogynistic and homophobic texts between the governor and his main advisers.
• Washington Post: The House passed a bill by a vote of 231-199 that would raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade. However, don’t expect the legislation to be taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
• AFP News: Donald Trump asked Nobel laureate Nadia Murad how she won the Nobel Peace Prize after she explained how she won the Nobel Prize. Murad survived in the aftermath of her mother and six brothers being killed by ISIS and that 3,000 Yazidis remained missing. Trump asked, “And you had the Nobel Prize? That’s incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?” Murad paused, then repeated her story.
• The Lion King: Check out Beyoncé’s musical contribution to the upcoming live-action remake of Disney’s The Lion King.
Titled “Spirit,” I find the video gorgeous. I’m on the fence about the melody. Let me know what you think.
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| Jeffrey Epstein (image via Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office) |
The judge presiding over the sex trafficking case of financier Jeffrey Epstein did not grant Epstein the luxury of bail today after it came to light that investigators found “piles of cash” and a fake passport in his home.
From the New York Times:
Investigators discovered a safe in Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion that held “piles of cash,” diamonds and an expired passport from a foreign country which had what appeared to be Mr. Epstein’s photo, but was registered to a fake name and listed his residence as Saudi Arabia.
Prosecutors revealed the safe’s contents as they argued in Federal District Court in Manhattan that Mr. Epstein should be denied bail before his sex-trafficking and conspiracy trial because he was a flight risk and a danger to the community. He is accused of abusing dozens of underage girls at his residences in New York City and Palm Beach, Fla.
Two women who say they were sexually abused by Mr. Epstein also spoke at the hearing, urging Judge Richard M. Berman to deny him bail.
“He’s a scary person to have walking the streets,” said Courtney Wild, one of Mr. Epstein’s accusers, who said she was assaulted at age 14.
Epstein’s lawyers have offered up to $100 million in cash and real estate holdings as collateral for his bail as they seek house arrest for Epstein.