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The Weekly Readlines January 20
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday.
Quote for the Week: “People come up to me, they actually want to work longer.” – GOP Rep. Rick Allen, speaking from another planet to defend his push to raise the Social Security eligibility age. Nowhere does he mention that no one is forced to stop working.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES First the good news: As of January 22, we’ll be entering the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace and prosperity in Chinese culture. 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope. In the words of the great intergalactic philosopher Jean-luc Picard, “Make it so!”
SCOTUS issued its report on the investigation into who leaked the Dobbs decision, determining to no one’s surprise that we will never know the culprit. In the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, “Make it so!” Georgia Rep. Rick Allen claims people want to work longer before retirement, in his defense of raising the eligibility age for Social Security. House Republicans have brought back smoking in Congressional offices, ensuring that if Covid didn’t get them cancer will. Nothing demonstrates masculinity like smelling like an ashtray at last call.
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The Weekly Readlines January 13
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday.
NEW: You can now get the unabridged Readlines with a subscription to my Substack newsletter, along with regular musings, opinion and philosophical misfires.
Quote for the Week: “I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person, but what happened is they get sort of fizzled by life.” – Jennifer Coolidge, accepting her Golden Globe for White Lotus BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES First the good news: CA Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia was sworn into office on the U.S. Constitution, beneath which were a photo of his parents lost to Covid, his citizenship certificate, and an original Superman #1 from the Library of Congress. Light and spirit in a dark world.
The GOP House of Horrors Show begins, with endless hearings on hot MAGA buttons guaranteed to exhaust us for the next two years. Classified documents continue to be found at properties once occupied by Joe Biden, providing the mainstream media lots of opportunity to parrot the right-wing echo chamber. And a 6-year-old shot his teacher in Newport News, VA, probably with the gun Mommy left on the kitchen table.
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The Twist Podcast #210: Special Guest Susie Hobson Joins the Fracas!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we welcome our guest Susie Hobson for a lively conversation about the day’s top news, listicles, conversation and comedy.
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The Weekly Readlines January 6
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday.
NEW: You can now get the unabridged Readlines with a subscription to my Substack newsletter, along with regular musings, opinion and philosophical misfires.
Quote for the Week: “We all look like domestic terrorists now.” – Hope Hicks, top aide to former President Trump, raging after the failed January 6 coup BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news: It’s 2023! Democracy did not read its own obituary in the year gone by. America moved into its post-pandemic phase, and the DOJ has a 99.8 percent conviction rate against the Capitol rioters.
House Republicans made history by failing to elect a Speaker for the first time in over 100 years. Kevin ‘Orange Nose’ McCarthy couldn’t get the votes, while a rebel caucus of 20 or so continued their trench warfare.
Mitch McConnell proved the undead are among us by becoming the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, and a suspect was arrested in the horrific murders of four University of Idaho students.
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The Weekly Readlines December 30 (Now with Audio!)
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday.
NEW: You can now get the unabridged Readlines with a subscription to my Substack newsletter, along with regular musings, opinion and philosophical misfires.
Quote for the Week: “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES First the good news: 2022 is almost over—the good, the bad, and the meh. Brittney Griner spent Christmas a free woman. The January 6 Committee’s final report is a best seller. Daniel Craig and Hugh Grant are lovers in Glass Onion. And Kari Lake went down to defeat in Arizona. Can 2023 possibly be better?
Putin’s killing spree continued with another Russian mogul falling out a hotel window. New York GOP Rep-elect George Santos coined the word ‘Jew-ish’ in response to his shopping list of lies. And the House passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill with the help of Senate Republicans who see the crazy coming when the GOP takes the House in January.
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The Weekly Readlines December 23
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday.
NEW: You can now get the Readlines with a subscription to my Substack newsletter, along with regular musings, opinion and philosophical misfires.
Quote for the Week: “Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.” – Peg Bracken, author of ‘I Hate to Cook’BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First the good news: The January 6 Committee referred Donald Trump for prosecution on four charges. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
2022 was not the apocalypse, a lot of good things happened. Challenges and opportunities await us in the New Year. Walmart will soon offer delivery by drone. My beloved Lambertville, NJ, was named New Jersey Destination of the Year, and my writing career, such as it is, is going gangbangers. Or it that gangbusters? So let’s move forward with hope and determination, and make next year everything we want it to be.
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The Weekly Readlines December 16
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every week.
Quote for the Week: “I will never not fight back.” – Robin Tyler, comic and activist
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES First the good news: President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, ensuring federal protection for same-sex marriage and requiring states to honor marriages performed where they are legal. And the Biden administration proposed a crackdown on those ubiquitous (Not)Medicare Advantage plans.
Krysten Sinema surprised absolutely no one when she changed her party affiliation to Independent. If she needs another attention fix, she may well become a Republican. And Texas broke through the anti-trans floor to sink even lower, demanding personal information on all the transgender Texans it can find. Scary times.
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The Weekly Readlines December 9
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every week.
Quote for the Week“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news: Georgia Senator Rafael Warnock WON! The Respect for Marriage Act heads to Biden’s desk. Brittney Griner was freed from Russian captivity. And that’s just the last 48 hours. What a week!
The manufactured case of graphic designer Lorie Smith, wannabe victim and Evangelical tool, afforded SCOTUS the chance to display its comedy chops, with Samuel Alito scoring big with a joke about Black kids in KKK costumes. Can an HBO special be far behind?
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The Weekly Readlines November 19
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every week. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
Quote for the Week: “You’re guaranteed to have outcomes you like and outcomes you don’t like in a democracy.” – PA Senator-Elect John Fetterman
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news: Michael Moore was right. The dreaded red tide we’d been warned about by the media’s relentless drumbeat turned into a puddle. Democrats kept the Senate, lost the House by a slim margin, and vindicated President Biden’s first two years.
Nancy Pelosi will be stepping down from her leadership position. Marjorie Taylor Greene prepares to lead the rabid pack of GOP revenge seekers. Trump announced his run for 2024 in one of the week’s most anticlimactic stunts. And the Respect for Marriage Act was set for an almost-assured passage for the holidays.
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The Weekly Readlines October 13
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every week. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
Quote for the Week: “In the long run, you make your own luck—good, bad, or indifferent.” – Loretta Lynn
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESA desperate Putin launched a series of attacks on Ukraine following an explosion on a bridge linking Russia to the stolen territory of Crimea.
President Biden indicated he’s open to reevaluating the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia following OPEC’s planned cut in oil production, widely seen as a betrayal.
And just as we’d begun recovering from the death of Loretta Lynn, Cabot Cove’s indomitable Angela Lansbury passed away at 96. We can’t take much more.
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The Weekly Readlines September 30
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every week. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news: coffee drinking is associated with increased longevity, in which case I’ll live forever, and Mitch McConnell backs the Electoral Count Reform Act.
Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida as a Category 4 storm before moving on to batter South Carolina. Judge “Trump’s My Boo” Cannon ruled against her own Special Master, making clear whose puppet she is, and Ginni “Looney Tunes” Thomas told the January 6 Committee she still believes the 2020 election was stolen. We have two words for her: GORE WON.
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The Weekly Readlines September 22
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) offers news you can use every week.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news: President Biden’s approval rating ticked up to 45 percent, boding well for the Democrats. The President also declared the pandemic over. Go Dark Brandon! Cherry on top: New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250 million civil suit against the Trumps for their massive real estate fraud no one was surprised to learn about.
Donald Trump has gone full QAnon, while denying doing any such thing. Whether it’s their relentless attacks on all things trans and drag (with the rest of us in the queue), or their delight at the inhumane treatment of migrants, ‘the GOP base’ cheers the increasing cruelty of their own party. And a new study found that COVID appears to significantly raise the risk of Alzheimer’s in older adults. What a world.