-
The Weekly Readlines October 6
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Quote for the Week: “Vacations mean a change of pace, a gentleness with ourselves, a time of rest and renewal, and a time to stretch ourselves and encounter new people, new lands, new ways, and new options.”—Anne Wilson Schaef
Speaker McCarthy out, Paris bed bugs in! For the first time in American history, the Speaker of the House has been removed, in a charge led by the inimitable Matt Gaetz. Claims that Gaetz is behind the historic Paris bed bug infestation have yet to be confirmed. Mais oui!
California Governor Gavin Newsom named Laphonza Butler, president of pro-choice Emily’s List, to replace the late Diane Feinstein. Butler is both Black and a lesbian, making this a double dose of deliciousness.
The MAGA government shutdown was averted at the very last moment by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to be extorted. We know the price he paid.
Trump, more accustomed to gagging people than being gagged, was ordered to stop issuing fatwas against law clerks and attorneys general on his bizarre social media platform. The countdown clock to his violation of the order is ticking, with Vegas odds makers favoring jail time.
And my favorite nearby town, Lambertville, NJ, was named among the most charming in the country. I told you so!
-
The Weekly Readlines September 30
Quote for the Week: “… we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” – Retiring Four-Star General Mark Milley
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Senator Diane Feinstein died at 90, leaving a legacy as the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate. General Mark Milley retired as the head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, ignoring calls for his execution by one-term fiasco Trump and his toady, AZ Rep. Paul Gosar. And a government shutdown is all but assured after radical Republicans chose cult over country.
The Writers Guild reached an agreement with studios, ending a five-month strike. President Biden walked the picket line with autoworkers in Michigan, becoming the first American President to join striking union members. And Las Vegas’ Culinary Workers Union authorized a strike, threatening to cripple Gomorrah in the desert.
Possibly realizing it’s a violation of federal law while under indictment, Trump denied purchasing a 9mm Glock after a campaign staffer said he did. And the former President was found by a judge to have committed fraud for years in his real estate businesses. His popularity among the base jumped 20 points. Who says crime doesn’t pay?
-
The Weekly Readlines September 22 (Now with Audio)
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Attorney General Merrick Garland was subjected to cartoonish grilling in a House Judiciary hearing by Republican senators intent on pleasing the MAGA base and no one else.
Five Americans held in Iran have been released in a deal arranged by the Biden Administration and immediately criticized by the Right … because Biden.
Lauren Boebert apologized for vaping in a a public theater, but not for being groped by her date at a family-friendly show. Bonus: the woman who asked her to stop vaping was pregnant. So much for parental rights. A drag queen would never put an unborn child in danger like this!
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused India of sponsoring the assassination of a Sikh leader in Canada. India cancels lunch buffets in Ottawa as conflict escalates.
Republicans and media double-team relentless ‘Biden is old and diminished’ agitprop while Trump gives a speech claiming Obama is the president, and Biden will lead us into World War II. You decide.
-
The Weekly Readlines September 15
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Sure to be repeated daily in what passes for breaking news, Hunter Biden has been indicted on gun charges no one else would be if their name wasn’t Biden. We wait patiently for an NRA statement in his defense.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fed the last scraps of his soul to the MAGA hounds, ordering an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his “crime family.” (Surely there has never been a more terrifying Mafia don than Jill Biden!). One good note: White House Counsel under Trump issued a ruling that an impeachment inquiry without a house vote was illegitimate and did not have to be complied with.
The Right’s war on diversity continues to take casualties, as more corporations drop their diversity training. Happy days are here again for white America!
Senator John Fetterman celebrated Biden’s win on marijuana, and Mitt Romney announced he will not run again in 2024, while expressing his belief that most of the Republican party no longer believes in the Constitution.
-
The Weekly Readlines September 7
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Burger King will have to face a lawsuit claiming it’s Whoppers are too small to be whoppers.
Bomb threats against public libraries are on the rise. Home insurers are dropping natural disaster coverage in light of the climate change we’re told isn’t real, and Hunter Biden is being indicted in one of the biggest ‘whatever’ media narratives of the modern era.
Ron DeSantis had his handlers man-handle a 15-year-old in New Hampshire whose question made him uncomfortable. And a Massachusetts teenager died after eating a spicy tortilla chip, attributed to the ‘one chip challenge’ TikTok craze.
-
The Weekly Readlines September 1
The Weekly Readlines is a feature at LGBTSr.com offering news you can use every Friday.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First things first: Happy belated birthday to Peanut, the world’s oldest living chicken! What’s her secret?
Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida, causing a 100-year-old oak tree to fall on the governor’s mansion in retaliation for his anti-woke policies.
Canada issued a warning to LGBTQ travelers to avoid the United States. Mitch McConnell froze again during a press conference, with the ever-classy Marjorie Taylor Greene calling him unfit for office.
-
The Weekly Readlines August 25
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr providing news you can use every Friday.
In Memoriam: Laura Ann Carleton, murdered for being a friend of the LGBTQ community. Her killer was a Christian extremist, no surprise there.
Republicans had their first debate in Milwaukee, without Trump. Be very afraid.
Students say bans on LGBTQ topics and discussions are pointless: they were never taught in class anyway.
And the ‘war on woke’ is flopping as a fire starter for the GOP. Most Republicans are over it, if they ever cared in the first place, which is unlikely.
-
The Weekly Readlines August 11
Quote for the Week: “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.” – Clarence Thomas, in a documentary financed by one of his billionaire benefactors
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Maui has been devastated by wildfires, claiming at least 55 lives and destroying the historic town of Lahaina, once the seat of the Hawaiian kingdom.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has requested January 2 as the start date for Trump’s trial, possibly hoping to make him a convicted felon in time for Super Tuesday.
And The Band’s Robbie Robertson died at 80, having given us the most most famous and unfortunately enduring Confederate apologia ever recorded, The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down. If only it had stayed there.
LGBTQ NEWS
Milan To Resume Registering Children From Male Couples
ReutersDr. Fauci To Be Succeeded By First Openly LGBTQ Director Of NIAID
Washington Blade -
The Weekly Readlines August 4
On a personal note: The Readlines is moving to Friday mornings, as I change my production schedule. Other new content from LGBTSr.com will go out on Mondays. – Mark
Quote for the week: “The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” – Special Counsel Jack Smith
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Former President Donald Trump was indicted (again). The charges are extremely serious, involving his efforts to overturn the election he lost, and may result in America having its first incarcerated Commander in Chief.
Actor Paul Reubens, aka Peewee Herman, died at 70. While it was sad, it was another one of those ‘He was 70?!’ moments I experience these days when people who are essentially my peers are exiting Planet Earth.
LGBTQ NEWS
Anti-LGBTQ Bills Drive Top Louisiana Kids’ Heart Doctor Out Of State
Shreveport TimesChicago LGBT Hall of Fame to announces 2023 inductees
Windy City Times -
The Weekly Readlines July 25
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Florida history teachers are now required to say slavery was a skill set offered at no cost to the enslaved, kind of like free tuition to college in Hell.
Not to be outdone in the hate stakes, GOP House members struck the only three (3) earmarks in the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill that benefited LGBTQ people, including one for senior housing. I guess we’re never too old to groom!
And Alabama defied the Supreme Court and refused to add a second majority-Black district, paving the way for the rest of us to ignore their rulings, too.
-
The Weekly Readlines July 19
Quote for the times: “Too many people hate the people that AIDS most affects: gay people and people of color. I do not mean dislike, or feel uncomfortable with. I mean hate. Downright hate. Down and dirty hate.” – the late Larry Kramer, true as it ever was
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Actors joined writers on strike, when SAG-AFTRA walked out over stalled contract negotiations.
Republicans assured defeat of the must-pass Defense bill by stuffing it with anti-women, anti-LGBTQ amendments meant to thrill the base but cripple the military. We predict the extortion will fail.
And California voters will have the chance to right a wrong by repealing Prop 8, the state’s same-sex marriage ban, with a vote in 2024. Be careful what you wish for, they could keep it.
LGBTQ NEWS
Idaho ‘Abortion Travel Ban’ Challenged By LGBT Group
FISM TVWhat’s A Tea Dance? The Fascinating History Behind These Unique Parties
GayCities -
The Weekly Readlines July 12
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Well, that didn’t take long. A hair salon owner in Michigan declared she won’t serve portions of the LGBTQ community who use pronouns that freak her out. The chances she had any transgender clients before this? Zero.
Revelations about Clarence Thomas’s grifts just keep coming. Mo billionaires, mo problems, to paraphrase Biggy.
The super important GOP whistleblower guaranteed to bring down the Biden dynasty turns out to be a spy for China. Oops.