Tag Archives: news

Oh you cuckolded devil—or, the Evangelical Power Couple and the Pool Boy

Let me begin by saying, I told you so.

Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years.

Giancarlo Granda says his sexual relationship with the Falwells began when he was 20. He says he had sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell Jr, head of Liberty University and a staunch supporter of President Trump, looked on…

Giancarlo Granda, who says he had a years-long sexual relationship with the Falwells that began when he was 20, said he now believes the Falwells preyed upon him. “Whether it was immaturity, naïveté, instability, or a combination thereof, it was this ‘mindset’ that the Falwells likely detected in deciding that I was the ideal target for their sexual escapades,” he said.

The Falwells have a particular kink, and it involves younger, hunky men having sex with Mrs Falwell while Mr Falwell watches and takes pictures. I called it!

In previous posts I’ve talked about how the relationship seemed to begin when Granda was 20 years old, working as a poolboy at a very expensive Miami hotel the Falwells were vacationing at. He was a young man working his way through school, they were an extremely wealthy couple staying in one of the most expensive suites, were known for tipping lavishly, and owned their own jet.

And we know the discovery process of a lawsuit filed by the real estate mogul father of one of the former pool boy’s classmates, who helped the Falwell’s find a suitable property, that as the relationship continued, the Falwells spent more than $1.8 million buying a youth hostel, refurbishing it, and gifted half ownership to the pool boy.

And then, of course, there is the second pool boy

I’ve said before that hot-wifing, threeways, and cuckold fantasies are all perfectly healthy sexual things that a committed couple who are into ethical non-monogamy should be able to engage in without shame. The problem comes in when millions of dollars of money extracted from two tax exempt non-profits are used to finance particularly elaborate versions of those sexual relationships. That means tax payers subsidized this. And those two non-profits are actively engaged in trying to criminalize queer relationship, and restrict the sexual freedoms of straight people, too. And then there is that apparent fact that Falwell endorsed Trump on the eve of the Iowa Caucuses, effectively swinging the evangelical vote to the pussy grabber in chief, to pay Trump back for helping make a blackmailer who had photos of the sexual shenanigans go away.

Falwell is now trying to blame it all on his wife, Jerry Falwell Jr. Says His Wife Had an Affair With the Miami Pool Boy They Befriended and the pool boy blackmailing him. However, we already know Falwell bought the 1.8 million dollar business for the pool boy long before the blackmail. We also know from the Trump’s ex-lawyer who brokered the deal that it wasn’t the pool boy who attempted the blackmail. We also know that Falwell sent his jet to pick up the pool boy and bring him to Virginia for a week of “play” and actually introduced the pool boy to Donald Trump more than a month after the blackmailer had been paid off. And we know that Falwell accidentally texted photos of his wife in fetish gear to the staff of Liberty U, and he later admitted the pictures were meant for the guy I call The Other Pool Boy.

Yeah, this lie isn’t going to hold up, Jerry.

Weekend Update 8/22/2020: At least justice for some…

“It appears we have some breaking news.” “Good lord, what the fuck now?”
“It appears we have some breaking news.” “Good lord, what the fuck now?”
After making an effort to shake up the this week’s Friday Five with a new section called “This Week in I Need a Break from Bad News” I’m skipping over a lot of news I read last night and this morning that might normally go into one of my round up of news that broke after I queued the Friday Five or updates to stories I’m commented on before. Which doesn’t mean that there is no bad news below, just that I’ve tried to keep things focused a bit. And some of the following is actually good news! So, let’s begin!

A couple of updates on my least favorite evangelical hypocrit:

50 pastors who graduated from Liberty University demand Falwell be ‘permanently removed’, though I prefer the headline Joe Jervis of JoeMyGod.com gave it: “50 Liberty U Pastors: Permanently Shitcan Jerry Falwell.” I’ve written way too much about that jerk. He’s a grifter, a fraud, he’s used the so-called Christian University as his personal piggy bank to finance multi-million dollar gifts the hunky young men in exchange for sexual escapades involving his wife, and he repaid Donald Trump for helping him get rid of a blackmailer by endorsing Trump at a crucial stage of the 2016 election and effectively delivering the evangelical vote to the Pussy Grabber in Chief. I’m glad that he’s finally paying some price, but I don’t have much hope he’ll face real consequences: Liberty Board confirms Falwell’s leave, Prevo as acting president. Again, I prefer Joe Jervis’ headline: “Liberty U Asks God To Decide On Shitcanning Falwell.” Except we all know that most of the decision-makers haven’t actually talked to god in decades. If ever…

Moving on!

Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo sentenced to life in prison . Not just life in prison, 11 consecutive life in prison without parole, plus additional sentence. He pled guilty to over 50 rapes and 13 murders, so doesn’t seem like an overly harsh sentence. In case you don’t recognize him, the Golden State killer was a former police officer who committed at least 13 murders, more than 50 rapes, and over 120 burglaries in California between 1973 and 1986. He operated in different parts of the state (different areas he lived in) from 1973 until 1986. It took years for police agencies to figure out the that Visalia Ransacker, East Area Rapist, and the Original Night Stalker were one and the same. It wasn’t until April, 2018, that police were able to identify the killer thanks in part to DNA evidence.

One of the reasons I have followed this case is I have a friend who lived in one of the areas where he operated back at the time who has talked about how scary it was to hear and read those stories at the time.

Anyway, I really do hope that he dies in prison.

Tropical Storms Laura, Marco form potential double threat to Gulf Coast: What we know. As I said on twitter, who was it that had double hurricanes on their Apocalypse 2020 Bingo Card? If they storms continue to track as predicted, both will be crossing the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, something that has never happened since we started keeping storm records in 1851. We’ve had two hurricanes stike the U.S. within a day of each other before (back in 1933), but they didn’t both strike the Gulf coast.

Batten down the hatches and stay safe!

Now, here are some court cases that have all gone right:

Court orders Donald Trump to pay legal fees in Stormy Daniels suit.

Haters Lose Chick-Fil-A Lawsuit – Texas appeals court rejects ‘Save Chick-fil-a’ lawsuit, hands San Antonio a victory.

Republicans Lose Court Battle Against Michigan Lockdown – Michigan Court of Appeals upholds Gov. Whitmer’s emergency actions.

Speaking of Govenor Whitmer: It’s Shark Week, MF’ers: The Internet Loves Gretchen Whitmer’s Sassy Mouth. There’s even not a t-shirt!

Finally

Guess how I’ll be spending the rest of my weekend: ‘Lucifer’ Season 5 Instantly Rockets To #1 On Netflix?

Friday Five (don’t be a dumbass edition)

Just like Dolly said…
It is the third Friday in August!

The heatwave came back, and it felt as if all week I was trying to keep cool and figure out things to cook for dinner that didn’t heat the house up worse than it was. The work week, meanwhile, felt more like a month squeezed into a week. On the other hand, the prescription issue I was still dealing with last week has been taken care of for now, so that’s a yay. Also, I enjoyed streaming the DNC convention, which gave me a few moments of hope.

Which brings us to this week’s Friday Five. For a while now I’ve had basically the same five categories of stories week after week, and it’s seemed harder than ever to not let all the outrage-worthy news predominate. So I’ve tried to shake things up a little bit. This week I bring you: the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories that are about good or funny or interesting things, five stories about awful people, and five videos (plus a notable obituary and something I wrote).

Stories of the Week:

Dolly Parton Steers Her Empire Through the Pandemic — and Keeps It Growing . This is an awesome interview! “As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

The Case of the Top Secret iPod.

Matriarch of Northwest apple industry passes away at age 194. Not a misprint.

Asteroid Makes the Closest Earth Flyby a Space Rock Has Ever Survived – The car-sized object zoomed by just 1,830 miles away.

Wolverines return to Mt Rainier for first time in more than 100 years.

This Week in News for Queers and Allies:

Waiter Has Message for Trump Supporters After Receiving $5 Tip with ‘Get Out of America, Fag’ Written on It.

‘It Has A Chilling Effect’: Some In LGBTQ Community Say Scrutiny Of Alex Morse Is Harmful .

Judge stops Idaho from enacting ban on transgender athletes – The ruling means transgender athletes wanting to participate in sports that match their gender identity can do so this fall.

I’m A Nurse Who Cares For Gender Surgery Patients. Here’s Why I Love It So Much – “It’s terribly lonely to have people know you as an incomplete or incorrect version of yourself.”.

Record Number of LGBTQ+ Delegates Make Voices Heard at Dem Convention.

This Week in I Need a Break From Bad News:

Cutie Jack Kennedy Schlossberg appeared at the virtual DNC with his mom.

Evangelical Coalition Urges Christians To Get COVID Vax Because “All Scientific Truth Is Ultimately From God”.

Florida mosquitoes: 750 million genetically modified insects to be released.

Earliest art in the British Isles discovered on Jersey.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Explained What Her “Shark Week, Motherfucker” Comment Meant And Made It Even Better – “It’s funny and it’s about women’s empowerment, and it makes me smile.”.

This Week in Deplorables:

New Senate Report Links Trump’s Business Partners To Russian Mob, Human Trafficking, And Putin.

Steve Bannon, Three Others Arrested In $25M Scheme To Defraud Donors To Private Border Wall.

Postal Service cuts imperil ladder to middle class for many Black Americans – Postal workers say DeJoy’s policies would make it nearly impossible to cope with sweeping changes that are affecting their jobs every day.

Thom Brennaman should be fired for his anti-gay slur – We know exactly who you are. Calling yourself a “man of faith” isn’t an excuse.

Squidbillies Star Stuart Baker Fired for ‘Extremely Offensive’ Facebook Posts. His long racist rant included calling Dolly Parton a freak and a slut for speaking out against racism, so, you know…

In Memoriam:

Chi Chi DeVayne dead: RuPaul’s Drag Race queen dies at age 34.

Things I wrote:

Sometimes we leap, sometimes we fall, sometimes we’re pushed….

Videos!

Watch Barack Obama’s Full Speech At The 2020 DNC | NBC News:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Why You Shouldn’t Be Asking If Kamala Harris Is “Black Enough” | The Daily Social Distancing Show:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Barack Obama’s Fiery, Emotional Speech Sets The Stage For Historic Kamala Harris VP Nomination:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Billie Eilish debuts ‘My Future’ at the 2020 Democratic National Convention:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Carly Rae Jepsen – Me And The Boys In The Band:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Sometimes we leap, sometimes we fall, sometimes we’re pushed…

Ouch!
Every time I’ve tried to finish a blog post this week it has turned into a meandering ramble that I’m not sure anyone would want to read. Of course, I’m never sure that anything I decide to write is going to be of interest to anyone else. I am frequently surprised by which posts get lots of clicks and which don’t. So it’s a little silly to be worried that much. Yes, I have repeated the writing rule that it is a sin to waste the reader’s time, but that doesn’t mean that everything one writes must absolutely appeal to every one. It means that if the reader follows you on the journey, the journey should entertain in some way, and there needs to be a pay off of some sort.

I am continually amused at how strangely our minds work. For example, a few weeks ago a friend was talking about crime being up in his neighborhood. I expressed surprise and mentioned that just the day before I had listened to a story on NPR about how overall crime has gone down quite a bit during the pandemic, with a few specific exceptions, such as property crimes in commercial building that are mostly deserted because so many white collar workers are working from home.

This prompted the friend to specify that by crime what he meant was specifically people breaking into cars. Which of course is precisely the type of crime that the NPR story said was the exception: property crimes that are less risky than usual because people are staying inside. It took me a minute of thinking to realize that car prowls would also be up, during which time I rambled more about the overall crime rates being down, and how I would only use the phrase “crime is up” if it were multiple categories of crime—but then I am rather pedantic.

The next morning I was getting a cup of coffee while my work laptop was booting up in the other room, and as has become my habit, I paused at the dining room window to look down and confirm that our car was still parked in our spot, windows intact and so on.

Which is when I had to laugh at myself.

See, that specific habit started back in late March when I read a news story that the local police departments had found a number of abandoned cars that the owners hadn’t even realized had been stolen because people were staying home and many couldn’t see their driveway from most windows in their home. Which is when I started the habit of every morning looking out the window to confirm our car was there.

Checking the car every morning had become such a habit that the reason had fallen off the normal shelves of memory and then sunk into the mist in the back of my mind. Such that even when my friend had mentioned car prowls being on the increase, it didn’t remind me of that news story. You would think that one’s memory would correlate such things. But apparently not.

This made me think about something I was reading on an acquaintance’s blog recently. A couple weeks ago we learned that people in the White House made the explicit decision (and documented the discussion) that since the early COVID outbreaks were in Blue States, that the Feds didn’t need to do anything. All the people dying would be in states that will never vote for Trump, anyway, and Trump could blame the democratic governors of those states.

That’s genocide. That is a war crime. That is a decision to let voters you perceive as not yours die from a preventable cause.

And the President only changed his tune and started urging people to at least wear masks when the virus spread to Red States. There was even a graphic that showed that the highest COVID deaths were happening in districts that previously voted for him.

And while several of us commented on that at the time (some of us with great outrage…) it barely lasted as a blip in the national media consciousness. Let alone most of the public. Because since Day One this administration has done many illegal and immoral and outrageous things. Those of us who care literally can’t keep up. How do we expect people who aren’t already news junkies to keep up?

The outrage and the illegality became this constant stream and eventually all of it fades to just being white noise. Crap is pushed from our collective consciousness by the ever-growing stream of more crap.

And I wish I had a solution or an answer to this problem. I just feel like the person implied in the meme I attached above: laying on the ground damaged from the fall, looking up at the cats who pushed me, stunned and unsure how to proceed.

Friday Five (last guardrail against fascism edition)

©2020 Tommy Siegel – Click to embiggen
It is the second Friday in August! Though tomorrow will be the third Saturday. Aren’t calendars funny?

We had much more moderate weather this week, but another small heat wave is in the forecast. I’ve also spent more than two weeks fighting with insurance company and mail-in pharmacy to get a prescription refilled that has never been a problem for nearly two decades, and I’m not exactly in a good state of mind as I have been without a very important medication for seven days now.

Which is something none of you can help with. So let’s move on to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our alles, five stories about awful people, five stories about the pandemic, five stories about the alleged president of the republic, and five videos (plus a notable obituary and some things I wrote).

Stories of the Week:

‘Ms. Jacobs! Is that you?!’ AOC’s Twitter reunion with her second-grade teacher is whole tear-fest.

At Last, Some Good News (For Fish).

One New York Couple Is Getting Creative With Their Romance Amid The Coronavirus.

New Carnivorous Dinosaur Unearthed on Isle of Wight.

Mysterious Bright Spots on Dwarf Planet Ceres Point to Secret Underground Ocean.

This Week in News for Queers and Allies:

Members of Poland’s Parliament Staged a Protest of Anti-gay President With Their Clothes |.

Court rules for Fla. student on bathroom access in major win for transgender rights.

Federal judge shuts down a state’s anti-transgender law… again – “When you treat the federal court like a doormat, there are going to be consequences”.

Ricky Martin Says ‘Adoption Is an Option’ for More Kids: ‘There’s Moments When I Want 10 More’ – Father of four Ricky Martin opens up in his Out cover story about fatherhood and the challenges he has faced in being a gay man considering adoption.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Is Queer, and It’s in Joe Biden’s ‘Agenda For Women’.

This Week in Haters and Other Deplorable People:

Anti-Lockdown Beach Party Ends In Brawl With Blood-Covered Men Wielding Chainsaws .

Birtherism Is Back: Newsweek Op-Ed Lies About Kamala Harris’s Citizenship – It was written by someone who ran against her. Seems relevant!

Antigay Dog Whistles Wrongly Insinuate Gay Mayor Engaged in Pedophilia.

Erick Erickson: Homosexuality Is “The Product Of Sin”.

LAPD Investigating Possible ‘Swatting’ of Black Lives Matter Leader.

This Week in the Pandemic:

Coronavirus: 97,000 American children test positive for COVID-19 in 2 weeks.

Coronavirus: How Trump killed tens of thousands of Americans.

Georgia student who posted photo of a crowded school hallway and called it ‘good and necessary trouble’ is no longer suspended, her mom says.

A 7-year-old boy in Georgia died of Covid-19, the youngest victim in the state.

News stories suggesting gaiters are worse than no mask at all are relying on a study that proves no such thing – That viral study suggesting gaiters are worse than no mask at all is flawed.

This Week in the Deplorable Thug Occupying the White House:

Donald Trump Gives Away The Game: No Funds For USPS Means No Mail-In Voting.

Fuck You, I’m Voting. “…here we are, it’s 2020, the worst President of my lifetime is just blithely gibbering at a microphone about suppressing voting, and there’s no point trying to pretend that it’s not what’s happening, and that the president’s party isn’t complicit with it.”

Trump calls for ‘a certain freedom’ to wear masks or not – and lies that Joe Biden’s coronavirus policies are ‘anti-scientific’.

Five Ways Trump And GOP Officials Are Undermining The Election Process.

State Department did not consider civilian casualties when sending arms to the Middle East, report finds.

In Memoriam:

Ford, Bush presidential adviser Brent Scowcroft dies at 95 – Scowcroft was the only person to serve as national security adviser to two different administrations.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/9/2020: It’s not booze, it’s just black water(?).

Tuesday Tidbits 8/11/2020: It’s a death cult.

It shouldn’t require a keymaster to have fun, or, canon and other forms of gatekeeping in sf/f.

We have the ticket, now get out and vote!

Videos!

President Donald Trump Postmaster Downgrading Of Political Mail Draws Scorn | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Trump Signs Sham Executive Orders, Takes Credit for Obamacare: A Closer Look:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Trump’s Terrifying Math: A “Tiny Fraction Of Deaths” Is Acceptable Among School Kids Upon Reopening:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Kamala Faces Sexism and Dulce Breaks Down the WAP Double Standard | The Daily Social Distancing Show (NSFW, but funny as heck):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

LAUREL – Scream Drive Faster:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

We have the ticket, now get out and vote!

Before I talk about anything, please watch this video — Flashback to when Kamala Harris ordered same-sex marriage licenses to be issued after Prop 8 was overturned:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Matt Baum talks about the times Kamala Harris fought to bring Marriage Equality back to California after Prop 8, including what it was like to be standing with the two guys who were trying to get the license that you see in the video above: The Two Times I Watched Kamala Harris Make History.

I have previously said that sometimes you have to vote for the candidate that won’t make things worse. And in this year’s presidential election your choice is to either vote for Biden/Harris or you let the fascist win. It’s just math at this point. A vote for a third-party candidate is a vote for Trump.

When I was explaining this one a few months ago to someone, I included the metaphor that, because society is big and you’ll never find a single candidate who a majority agrees with 100%, you have to think of it as transit. You get on the bus that is going in the right direction (or as close to the right direction as feasible). Someone who thought he was being clever came back with “What happens if neither bus is going in the right direction, hmmmm?” I’ll say then what I tried to say to him: not enabling fascist is never the wrong direction.

My first choice back when the debates were happening was Warren. By the time my state’s Democratic Primary happened, Warren had withdrawn. As had my second, third, and fourth choices. Warren was still technically on the ballot, because they had been printed early, but because she had already withdrawn, she would not be awarded any delegates even if she won our state. A vote for Warren at that point wouldn’t send a message to anyone. So I voted for my fifth choice, Bernie Sanders.

Before Bernie suspended his campaign a month later, for sixth, seventh, and eighth, choices had already dropped out (a couple of those dropped out long before my state’s primary, actually). So now the nominee is my ninth choice, Joe Biden.

But once he became the presumptive nominee, he became my candidate.

In my personal ranking for president, I had Kamala above Joe. But once we were in the Veep-stakes, where choices aren’t limited to other folks who sought the nomination, once the list of people being vetted was known, Harris wasn’t my first choice for Vice President, either. And my ranking was based on the question, “Of the people being considered, which one do I think is most equipped to take over the office of President, if goddess forbid, something happens to Joe—and keep us moving away from the alt-right mess and toward a more progressive future.”

I know people have their lists of all the policies Biden or Harris have supported that are “wrong” or “too timid,” et cetera. But whoever your favorite candidate is, I guarantee if you name them and give me a few minutes, I can come up with just as many things that that person is wrong about, et cetera. No one is going to match any single vote 100%.

Anyway, the choice has been made. The ticket has to be formalized at the virtual convention, yet, but we have the ticket. Now it’s our job to vote. It’s our job to register if we aren’t already registered, to confirm that we are registered even if we are certain we are, to plan to vote, and to vote all the way down the ballot. Swapping out the president isn’t going to be sufficient to get us out of the mess.

And the best way you can push the country further to the left than you think Biden or Harris can, is to elect progressive candidates in all the down-ballot offices. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

I’ve going to close by quoting from Matt Baum’s article I linked above.

Kamala Harris isn’t 100% there on every issue that’s important to me. She never will be. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get over how she denied medical care to trans inmates.

But I also saw first-hand that at a crucial moment, she was ready to ensure that justice would be done.

Friday Five (don’t be a fool edition)

Yard sign read, “I am a Republican but not a FOOL. Biden 2020”
Not a fool…
It is the first Friday in August! And this week our state’s regular primary election (as opposed to the Presidential which was many moons ago).

This has been a weird week. Unpleasantly high temperatures for several days, then a small rain storm and the temperatures drop to something more like a day in February or March. And then various problems in other parts of my life that I don’t really want to go into with strangers, but are definitely making things difficult. Which in a general sense is happening to everyone, so, what else is new?

Which brings us to the Friday Five. This week I bring you:the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our alles, five stories about awful people, five stories about the pandemic, five stories about the alleged president of the republic, and five videos (plus some things I wrote).

Stories of the Week:

The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free.

Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die – Which is too bad because we really need to understand how the immune system reacts to the coronavirus.

New York attorney general seeks to dissolve NRA in suit accusing gun rights group of wide-ranging fraud and self-dealing.

Was young Mars warm and wet or cold and frozen?

Doctors diagnose advanced cancer—in a dinosaur.

This Week in News for Queers and Allies:

Democratic Platform Promises Bold Action for Racial, LGBTQ+ Equality.

Activists Got A Chicago Children’s Hospital To End Intersex Surgeries. For Them, It’s Just The Beginning.

Out Candidates Advance in Washington, Kansas, and Michigan Primaries.

Mike Pompeo’s Plan for a Hierarchy of Human Rights Could Serve to Undermine Them All – Including LGBTQ and Religious Freedom.

Trans People Are Terrified About the Trump Administration’s New Housing Rule.

This Week in Haters and Other Deplorable People:

Another Day, Another Devin Nunes Defamation Suit Gets Ground Into Hamburger.

The FBI and SWAT teams raided the mansion of California YouTuber Jake Paul – reportedly in connection with “looting and rioting activity” at a Scottsdale.

Gay Trump supporter arrested defacing Black Lives Matter mural for second time – Footage from the scene shows Mark Hutt slithering around the pavement, spreading white paint over the words painted on the street.

Three people have been charged for Twitter’s huge hack, and a Florida teen is in jail.

Jerry Falwell Jr gives a slurred apology & a bizarre excuse for naughty pic – Claims that a bizarre picture of him with a woman who is not his wife – with both their pants undone – was “just in good fun.”.

This Week in the Pandemic:

Coronavirus testing dropping in US even as deaths rise by more than 1,000 a day.

A Vaccine Reality Check – So much hope is riding on a breakthrough, but a vaccine is only the beginning of the end.

CDC Reports Four Deaths From Swallowing Sanitizer.

Covid talks going nowhere as deadline nears – Negotiators met for more than three hours but remain far apart on an agreement.

Some Volunteers Want To Be Infected With Coronavirus To Help Find A Vaccine – But It Isn’t That Simple.

This Week in the Deplorable Thug Occupying the White House:

‘Trump is scared’ and ‘literally does not appear to understand’ what is going on around him: White House reporter.

This May Be The Most Absurd, Trumpian Drama Ever – Fired Anti-LGBT Trump Appointee Now Claims Jacob Wohl Took Her Phone To Post Inflammatory Tweets.

Trump says Microsoft should pay ‘key money’ to Treasury for facilitating TikTok deal. In case you don’t know: “key money” is real estate slang for an illegal under the table bribe to secure a lease or other property agreement. He publicly demanded a bribe.

CNN Anchor Drags Trump Campaign Adviser: ‘You’re Just Saying a Bunch of Crap!’.

Neil Young Sues Trump for Unauthorized Use of His Music During ‘Un-American Campaign of Ignorance and Hate’.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/1/2020: Like a puff of smoke — and not the good kind.

And the rockets have been awarded — let’s celebrate the Hugo winners.

Recognizing Who Should Have Been Seen All Along, or, Why the Retro Hugos Are Worth Saving.

Dinosaur Bellows to Stave Off the Future, or, that’s not how you should run a Hugo Awards ceremony.

Shadows are gathering, or, a queer ex-evangelical talks about the guns & god crowd.

Videos!

Trump Mispronounces Thailand, Backs NRA | The Tonight Show:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Kiana Lede “Dear Mr. President” – Late Show:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Tom Goss Sneaks into the Secret Lair of a Nerdy Bear (Not entirely Work Safe):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Troye Sivan – Rager teenager! (Official Video):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Orville Peck – Smalltown Boy (Official Audio):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Weekend Update 8/1/2020: Like a puff of smoke — and not the good kind

“It appears we have some breaking news.” “Good lord, what the fuck now?”
“It appears we have some breaking news.” “Good lord, what the fuck now?”
And it is time, once again, for a post in which I share news stories that either didn’t make the cut for this week’s Friday Five, or broke after I composed said Friday Five post, or provide updated information to a story I’ve linked in a previous post. Along with a bit more commentary that I usually make in a Friday Five post. Buckle up, because at least one of this is quite a bumpy ride! Let’s get started, shall we?

First, this story really needed about ten uses of the word “finally” in its headline: Twitter finally permanently bans white supremacist David Duke – Duke’s Twitter account was “permanently suspended” for violating the company’s policy against hateful conduct, a spokesperson for the social network says. David Duke, Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, white supremacist politician, white nationalist, unapologetic misogynist and homophobe, et cetera, and ad nauseum, was violating Twitter’s policy before Twitter existed. He violated it on day one of his membership. He violated it hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands of times during the ten f-ing years that he was on the platform before they banned him. He is just one of thousands of examples of why none of us believe that most of the social media networks actually believe the words in their own code of conduct.

Moving on…

So, remember how a few weeks ago hundreds of very prominent accounts on twitter were hacked and posted a Bitcoin scam? Well: Three people have been charged for Twitter’s huge hack, and a Florida teen is in jai. John Gruber (daringfireball) summed it up best: “It appears Twitter wasn’t the victim of anything vaguely approaching an expert caper. These kids are such dingbats they used Bitcoin accounts opened in their own names. Makes me wonder what actual expert hackers are getting away with on Twitter.”

And moving on…

How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air” – This last spring, a team working under the president’s son-in-law produced a plan for an aggressive, coordinated national COVID-19 response that could have brought the pandemic under control. So why did the White House spike it in favor of a shambolic 50-state response?. Here’s the killer quote from the article:

Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.

So here’s what derailed a national plan: one of the asshole white supremacist friends of Trump’s incompetent son-in-law notice that it appeared that the virus was sparing red states while spreading in blue states. Apparently not understanding how either people or viruses work, they thought this meant that only anti-Trump voters would get sick and die. The White House saw this difference as way out of the crisis that required very little effort with lots of potential political gains.

Instead of instituting a nation-wide testing plan, the White House started talking about reopening for business with the idea that the economy would be revived while the virus continued to ravish cities and states ruled by the enemy, the Dems. Jared Kushner and the other White House ghouls was behind this plan, because they didn’t understand how contagious diseases worked. They really thought that the virus would stay in the blue states because… um, well, there is no because…

So the orange idiot made fun of the governors on the blue states and eventually stopped hosting the White House briefings. He resumed having the briefings only when the virus started killing people in states and districts that polling indicated was the home of his base. Now he’s telling people to wear masks. The problem is, he’s already got all the attack dogs of his base screaming about how masks and other measures to stop the spread of the disease are a marxist plot—and once they get a notion like that in their heads, you can’t dislodge it.

And that is why we’re screwed.

Friday Five (moms standing tall edition)

And we have arrived at the final Friday in July!

My cough is still lingering. It has become much less frequent, which leads me even more to suspect that it’s a weird hay fever side effect, but still, no fun. And on Monday we set a record for heat, and the temperatures remain much higher than I am comfortable with.

Which brings us to the Friday Five. This week I bring you:the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our alles, five stories about the pandemic, five stories about the alleged president of the republic, five stories about hate and injustice, and five videos (plus notable obituaries and some things I wrote).

Stories of the Week:

In Lewis eulogy, Obama issues forceful call to action on voting rights, racial equality – Barack Obama was one of three former presidents to pay tribute to the civil rights icon and longtime Democratic congressman as he was laid to rest in Atlanta and bonus link: Barack Obama’s Eulogy for John Lewis: Full Text.

‘Now it is your turn’: John Lewis issues call to action in posthumous op-ed.

Believe It Or Not, Forests Migrate — But Not Fast Enough For Climate Change.

Don’t Plant the Mystery Seeds That Have Been Appearing in Local Mailboxes.

10 products you may not realise are threatened by the CO2 shortage. Did you know there was a CO2 shortage? I just found out this week!

This Week in News for Queers and Allies:

Stop at Rainbow Crosswalks Honors John Lewis’s LGBTQ+ Rights Legacy.

Puberty blockers linked to lower suicide risk for transgender people – The finding suggests that a major — and politically controversial — aspect of trans health care for minors could help reduce the community’s disproportionate suicide risk.

Media keep misidentifying trans murder victims, police are to blame .

Family of gay officer who died of COVID-19 denied insurance benefits.

Beyond ‘he’ and ‘she’: 1 in 4 LGBTQ youths use nonbinary pronouns, survey find – They/them is the most popular nonbinary option, but 4 percent of those surveyed report using “neopronouns,” like xe/xim and ze/zir.

This Week in the Pandemic:

Six U.S. states see record COVID-19 deaths, Latinos hit hard in California.

Expert: Major League Baseball Showing Us How Impossible It Will Be To Contain Virus In Schools – “I’m actually terrified that that’s about to happen to our school systems,” William Haseltine said.

Trader Joe’s workers attacked at New York store after asking customers to wear face masks, police say.

Pro-Trump youth group TPUSA deleted a tweet mocking protective masks after its cofounder died of the coronavirus.

The congressional underclass erupts in fury after Gohmert gets Covid-19 – The men and women who make Capitol Hill run are anxious and angry about the risks they’ve been forced to take amid the pandemic.

This Week in the Deplorable Thug Occupying the White House:

Trump Admits He Didn’t Confront Putin On Bounties Russia Paid Taliban to Kill U.S. Soldiers.

In just one month, Trump commits a whole new set of potentially impeachable offenses.

Trump Rages About Demand By Reagan Foundation that He Stop Using Reagan’s Image and Name in Campaign Ads.

Trump Can’t Postpone the Election—But He’s Trying to Destroy Its Legitimacy – The president today suggested postponing the November balloting, a move he lacks the legal authority to carry ou.

Sen. Ben Sasse Slams Trump’s Germany Troop Withdrawal as ‘Weak’.

This Week in the Police Brutality, Bigotry, and Other Injustice:

Wall of Moms, Black Lives Matter sue Trump admin over Portland response.

Minneapolis Looting Was Spawned By White Supremacist Seeking To Incite Race War .

Plainclothes cops in an unmarked van abducted a trans teenager as she skateboarded down the street – The 18-year-old was participating in a Black Lives Matter march when the secret police swarmed in and NYPD officers began threatening everyone around her.

ISIS & militia members are raping gay men & transgender women because they’re “soft” – Militants “look at gestures. The way we sit and move our hands, body language. They target gay and trans people.”.

He held a BLM sign in what he called ‘America’s most racist town.’ The result? A viral video of abuse.

In Memoriam:

Gay Critical Care Doc Dies Of COVID In His Own ICU – “I keep thinking, ‘Now there is one less ICU doctor to care for pandemic patients in Baltimore,’” Dr. Joseph Costa’s husband said of his death.

John Saxon, ‘Enter the Dragon,’ ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Actor, Dies at 83 – The Brooklyn tough guy also starred in ‘The Appaloosa,’ ‘The Unguarded Moment’ and ‘Black Christmas’.

Regis Philbin, Iconic TV Host, Dead at 88.

Olivia de Havilland Dies at 104.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendant Dies Of COVID After In-Person Training Event Linked To At Least 17 Cases – “We’ve lost an angel,” said Jeff Kurtzman’s close friend.

Things I wrote:

Do not get lost in a sea of despair — why this white homo mourns John Lewis.

Tuesday Tidbits 7/27/2020: Tear-gassed moms.

Vote like you’ve never voted before.

Received wisdom is the mind-killer, or, is it time to end the Retro Hugos?.

Videos!

Trump Praises “Demon Sperm” Doctor Who Pushed Hydroxychloroquine: A Closer Look:

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Bezos’s Ex Spreads the Wealth & Trump Shrugs Off Bounty Hunters | The Daily Social Distancing Show:

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Karen, Please Just Wear A Mask:

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GESS – Digital Romance (Official Video):

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BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC Official Trailer #2 (2020):

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Tuesday Tidbits 7/27/2020: Tear-gassed moms

Republican elephant kneeling on the head of a Black man wearing a voting rights t-shirt. “I want to take a moment to honor the memory of civil rights legend, John Lewis...”
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48 senators call on McConnell to allow vote on bill restoring Voting Rights Act.

Picture of gun-toting trumpers protesting quarantine orders: “In Trump's America, these guys got zero repercussions for storming state capitols with guns because they wanted to go to Applebees.”  Then a picture of the Wall of Moms: “Yet these Moms got tear gassed & beat with clubs by Trump's secret police for standing up for Black lives?”
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Portland mom shot in the face during Black Lives Matter protest.

Wall of Moms, Black Lives Matter protesters sue Trump administration for use of tear gas, force in Portland.

A ‘Wall of Vets’ Joins the Front Lines of Portland Protests.

“NRA supporters have been claiming for decades that the reason they need their arsenals is to fight against authoritarian government overreach. Now that armed government agents in unmarked vans are snatching citizens off the streets without charges in the most glaringly obvious example of authoritarian government overreach imaginable, they are either twiddling their thumbs nonchalantly or screaming about how they want to get haircuts without taking any public safety precautions during a pandemic. It's almost as if it was never about fighting out of control authoritarian government at all. Funny, that.”
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From the Administration that Brought You Kids-in-Cages, It’s Tear-Gassed-Moms.

“Elect a clown, expect a circus.”
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Reich: Trump trying to shift attention away from his COVID-19 failures.

“If you love an LGBTQ+ person and you're planning on voting for Donald Trump in November, that's an act of violence against them.”
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33 Ways Trump Has Harmed the Rights and Lives of LGBT People.

“Putin paying to kill U.S. soldiers means we're at ware with Russia, which means Trump did, in fact, commit treason.”
“Putin paying to kill U.S. soldiers means we’re at ware with Russia, which means Trump did, in fact, commit treason.”

Trump won’t say if Russian bounties came up in Putin call.

Trump won’t say if he’s confronted Putin over Russia’s reported bounties on US troops.

AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019.

“America has once again proven that a pile of dead bodies is on cause for change and the fact that you're not sure which issue I'm talking about speaks to the depther of that problem.”
“America has once again proven that a pile of dead bodies is on cause for change and the fact that you’re not sure which issue I’m talking about speaks to the depther of that problem.”