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The Weekly Readlines December 3
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First the good news: The American Library Association pushed back against the dark money-funded book banning craze intended to keep the Republican base in a state of ecstatic rage (Critical Rage Theory?). And the White House looks like Christmas again instead of the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones.
Another day, another COVID variant, as Omicron starts its spread across the globe. Poised to eviscerate women’s reproductive rights, a radicalized Supreme Court showed its hand during oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Expect the obliteration of more freedoms and the Court’s legitimacy in the coming years.
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The Weekly Readlines November 26
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First the good news: the three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were found guilty, just in time for a somber but grateful Thanksgiving for his family. Jobless claims hit a 52 year low. Vaccinations remain plentiful and free. We’re out of Afghanistan. The stock market keeps breaking records. US wages had their biggest rise in 20 years. Tweets are just tweets again, not weapons of mass distraction.
All in all, given the state of things a years ago, I’d say it was a very good Thanksgiving indeed. Let’s leave it at that.
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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 Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
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BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S BIG STORIES
First the good news: Confirming my deepest suspicions, President Biden is succeeding. So says conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, bucking the media’s trendy doom and gloom. If the house weren’t on fire, they’d have no house at all.
Following the spectacular passage of the infrastructure bill (GOP interparty death threats aside), House Democrats are poised to pass the Build Back Better Act as early as Friday, hoping Senators Manchin and Sinema don’t kill it for sport.
And to brighten everyone’s Thanksgiving, pardoned criminal Michael Flynn told a group of extremists that the United States must have one religion. Zero guesses as to which one it is.
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The Weekly Readlines November 5
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The good news first: the Senate confirmed Judge Beth Robinson, the first openly LGBTQ woman to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Appeals Court. That’s all, folks.
Democrats could be heard gnashing their teeth at the defeat of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia – a “stunning upset” that was neither stunning nor particularly upsetting. A bloodletting followed as progressives and moderates knifed each other, while Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continued shooting a movie destined to bomb with themselves as the stars.
Another week, another theocratic lurch in Texas, as a federal judge cleared the way for for-profit businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Sign us Unsurprised. Bonus: Kinzinger/Cheney 2024? Could be intriguing.
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The Weekly Readlines October 29
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The good news first: President Biden submitted his Build Back Better proposal, skinny edition, to the Democrats, pressuring them for full support. It looks like it may happen in time for a Halloween scare to the haters. “That’s not candy corn, Todd. That’s socialism!”
Information continues to come out about the attempted overthrow of the U.S. government on January 6, with clear indications that the former president was fully aware of the coup planning.
The U.S. issued its first non-binary ‘X’ gender passport. And solidifying the Democrats’ reputation as all but useless, paid family leave has been cut from the spending bill at Manchin’s insistence. Will there be any reason left to vote for them except they’re not Republicans?
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The Weekly Readlines October 22
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The good news first: Dr. Rachel Levine, transgender U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, has been sworn in as the first transgender four-star officer in the country’s history.
Posing for their portraits in the Hall of Infamy, Senators Manchin and Sinema seal the fate of Democrats with their preening resistance to the Party’s agenda. Expect more treachery.
Texas continues its march to ruthless minority rule, while supply chain problems keep toothpaste off the shelves, and school boards across the country fall to sometimes well-spoken conspiracy theorists. We wish we could say it’s only a movie.
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The Weekly Readlines October 15
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The good news first: President Biden issued a statement for National Coming Out Day. It’s been awhile. Merck sought authorization for a COVID-19 pill, bringing us one step closer to ending the vax-antivax madness. And Social Security is set to get a 5.9 percent cost of living increase next year. Ca-ching!
Nominal Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema threaten to destroy their own party’s agenda and one-term Joe Biden, promising a return to neofascism.
And in a perfect gift reveal, the Saudis gave then-President and Mrs. Trump fake furs, assuring that no animals were harmed during the purchase of his presidency.
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The Weekly Readlines October 1
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The good news first: October has arrived! Falling leaves, fun sweaters, ghoul weather! And my birthday … don’t miss the LGBTSr coffee cup giveaway. Also from the good news file, voters in Switzerland approved same-sex marriage.
The government avoided a scary Halloween shutdown and candy shortage in the nick of time, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed a vote on the critical bipartisan infrastructure bill due to Democratic infighting over how much free stuff to give people. Dental care for Granny? Babysitters on the federal dime? Will the empire survive? Watch for updates in your information bubble of choice.
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The Weekly Readlines September 24
The Weekly Readlines is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Good news first: September 20 marked the ten year anniversary of the repeal of DADT (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell).
The nation approaches default with a gleeful Mitch McConnell looking on, while Democrats threaten to tank their own agenda. And it’s only September!
The coronavirus pandemic is now the most deadly in American history, surpassing the death toll of the 1918 flu. Some hospitals have resorted to rationing care due to unvaccinated Covid patients filling up the ICU beds.
France gets prissy over Biden’s submarine deal with Australia, recalls ambassador, then mends hurt feelings with presidential phone chat and escargot.
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The Weekly Readlines September 10
The Weekly Readlines is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news and views you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
President Biden goes on offense against vaccine refusers determined to ruin it for everyone else. Vaccination will now be mandatory for Federal workers, contractors, and employers with over 100 employees. Anti-vaxxers and no-maskers howl in response, demanding ‘my body, my choice,’ unless you’re a woman who needs an abortion in a GOP-led state.
Look for a continued surge in the sale of horse paste as the perfect stocking stuffer for Christmas. Despite health experts warning against using the horse de-wormer to treat Covid, it could be this year’s Tickle Me Elmo for the conspiracy theorist on your list.
And in happy news, Pete and Chasten Buttigieg announced the birth of their two children. Here’s hoping they have an inhabitable world to grow up in.
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The Weekly Readlines September 3
The Weekly Readlines is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news and views you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
And so it ends—the war in Afghanistan is over. Biden takes the hit, and he also takes responsibility, something we haven’t seen for, oh, four years or so.
Anti-vaxxers continue to ramp up their violent rhetoric, in futile rage against the nation’s attempt to stop a virus that doesn’t care about anyone’s civil rights. It just kills, and it has been on a spree. Welcome to Florida!
Texas made abortion all but illegal, with an assist from Supreme Court conservatives who have stopped pretending to be anything but enforcers for an extremist Republican agenda. Freedom flickers out one majority opinion at a time.
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The Weekly Readlines August 25
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Maybe this should be called The End Times Tribune instead, considering the state of the world.
Afghanistan continues to suck up all the desert air in the room, providing plenty of ammunition for people with their hate phasers aimed at President Biden, including a breathless and hyperventilating media that hasn’t been this frothed up since Trump was president.