Bobservations

This week, eating breakfast and watching GMA, there was a story about Facebook doing an online graduation ceremony for 2020 high school seniors.

Oprah Winfrey will be the commencement speaker … gag … and Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Lil Nas X and Simone Biles , among others would speak. And Miley Cyrus will perform her “inspirational” song, ‘The Climb.’ Carlos, with his Absent-minded Professor ears on, said:

“Decline? What? Is her credit card declined?”

And began singing:

“♫ ♪ I’m declined! I’m declined ♪ ♫”

I said:

“Honeybunch? It’s ‘The Climb,’ not ‘I’m Declined.’”

“Oh.”

More Carlos … yesterday, right after eating his breakfast, Tuxedo threw up on a kitchen rug. As we have a standing rule that I take care of what goes into the cats, and Carlos takes care of what comes out, he cleaned up.

As he bitched and whined and moaned—far, far less than I would have had the situation been reversed—I suggested we change his middle name to VomitCleaner. He said:

“I already go by that name.”

And he ain’t wrong.

Tuxedo seems to relish the fact that Carlos and I are in lockdown because now he has company …

The homeowners’ association for Fisher Island, an exclusive enclave near Miami that recently bought enough COVID-19 antibody tests for every single resident and worker on the island, has been approved for a $2 million loan through a federal program intended to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the Fisher Island Community Association—the master homeowners’ group for the wealthiest ZIP code in the country—plan to use the money.

The rich get all the breaks.

Go figure … Right after asking the federal government to expand the use of its lone FDA-approved drug to coronavirus patients, Jaguar Health has more than tripled the price of the drug.  They say the need to drastically raise the price during the height of a pandemic to stave off the company’s collapse.

Earlier this year, the list price of a 60-pill bottle of Mytesi—an antidiarrheal medication which may help with the virus—was $668.52. On April 9, as more and more people were dying, Jaguar Health raised the price to $2,206.52 a bottle.

The rich get richer and the poor … die.

After closing down and sending students home due to the COVID-19 crisis, West Point is being forced to bring 1,000 cadets back to its campus—an epicenter for the virus—so _____ Trump can deliver a commencement address.

West Point had postponed its commencement, and school officials were unsure whether to hold one, until _____ announced that he would be speaking there.  Why. You may ask? Jealousy.

Last Friday, the day before Michael Elizabeth Pence was to speak at the Air Force commencement ceremony in Colorado, _____ abruptly announced that he would, in fact, be speaking at West Point. That was news to everyone, including officials at West Point, who been looking at the option of a delayed presidential commencement in June, But now, with _____ feeling butt-hurt that Pence is getting press, West Point has called back 1,000 cadets.

For the ego of _____.

The New York Times ran a few stories on the lunacy of Fox News’ chief asshat, Sean Hannity. And because he was butt-hurt about it, Hannity had his attorney Flying Monkey, Charles Harder, demand an apology or a retraction.

It all began with a piece by Ginia Bellafante about Brooklyn bar owner, Joe Joyce, who took a cruise to Spain in March, and later contracted the coronavirus and died. Now, while it is not clear that Joyce contracted the virus in Spain, his daughter Kristen Mider told Bellafante that her father watched Fox News and believed the coronavirus was under control because Hannity said so. Bellafante said that Hannity "went on air proclaiming that he didn’t like the way that the American people were getting scared 'unnecessarily.' He saw it all, he said, 'as like, let’s bludgeon Trump with this new hoax.' " 

Except it isn’t a hoax, and the shoddy, biased, half-assed vomitous mouth droppings that Hannity passes off as news may have led to a man’s death. And so, when Harder demanded an apology, and NYT legal counsel David E. McCraw responded:

"The columns are accurate, do not reasonably imply what you and Mr. Hannity allege they do, and constitute protected opinion. In response to your request for an apology and retraction …

… our answer is 'no.’”

No.

Yes, in the midst of a pandemic that is far from over, the White gift shop is now selling COVID-19 coins, emblazoned with things like:

“WE FOUGHT THE UNSEEN ENEMY” … “Everyday Heroes” … “President Donald J, _____, Vice President Michael R. Pence, Secretary S. Mnuchin, Drs. Jerome Adams, Deborah Birx, Anthony Fauci.”

The coins regularly cost $125 but buy now and you get one for $100. And, to sweeten the pot, 20% of the proceeds are donated each day to U.S. Hospitals including Johns Hopkins for its COVID-19 Coordination and Tracking.

I wonder where the other 80% goes.

I need some hot men, and a Husband In My Head now, so let’s go with Matt Bomer, who responded to a viral meme featuring a lineup of white guys—Cheyenne Jackson, Finn Wittrock, Max Greenfield, and Wes Bentley—all cast as leading men by producer Ryan Murphy, with @vintagehols saying:

“i could not name one of these men if someone put a gun to my head.”

First off, I could, and did; take that! But Matt gets the award for best Retort because he tweeted back:

“I love all of these men and their unique talents. But if you’re going to line us up and objectify us every few months like Ryan Murphy’s version of a Hitchcock blonde...then I’ve got dibs on Grace Kelly.”

And then, because he’s not just a pretty face, Bomer followed that tweet with one soliciting donations to CenterLink, a coalition of more than 250 LGBTQ community centers from 45 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, as well as Canada, China, Mexico, and Australia:

“While you're figuring out who's who click on this link and donate to Centerlink and support LGBTQ youth around the country who need a place to live, eat, and find safety right now. Even 50 cents helps!”

Hot and compassionate.

Yes, please.

So, we’re watching some movies here in Lockdown and there are some hot mens traipsing across the screen, like—clockwise:

Corey Stall, who fulfills my sexy bald man fantasy, and will be co-starring on the new season of Billions.

Nicholas Pinnock, who is giving me Denzel Washington with an extra dose of hotness, while starring in For Life.

Martin Freeman, who played Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock on PBS, and is now starring in the offbeat comedy Breeders.

And comedian Jermaine Fowler, who was one of the first celebrity contestants on RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race and played Kevina Hart—brilliantly—in Snatch Game.

I do like a bowl of Man Candy in the morning.

More Good News Monday: West Point Chapel Hosts First Same-Sex Marriage Ceremony

Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, got married at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel at West Point this past Saturday.

Not such a big deal really, as many cadets, and graduates from West Point marry in the building, but Brenda Fulton married her partner of seventeen years, Penelope Gnesin in the chapel, marking the first same-sex marriage ceremony to be performed in the Cadet Chapel; their wedding was the second same-sex marriage West Point has hosted, with the first being held the previous weekend at a smaller venue on the campus.

The times, oh, have they changed, y'all.

Gnesin and Fulton had a civil commitment ceremony back in 1999, but, like a lot of same-sex couples they wanted marriage. They'd hoped to be married in their home state of New Jersey, but same-sex marriage isn't legal there, yet, so they chose West Point.

"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton said.

Fulton called the Cadet Chapel a fitting venue: "It has a tremendous history, and it is beautiful. That's where I first heard and said the cadet prayer."

When Fulton  requested the West Point chapel, she was told that none of the chaplains who preside there come from a denomination that allowed them to celebrate a gay marriage, so the Fulton-Gnesin nuptials were officiated by a friend, Army Chaplain Col. J. Wesley Smith.

Fulton, a veteran and the communications director of OutServe--which represents actively serving gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel--was named to the West Point Board of Visitors by president Obama in July, 2011,  making her the first openly gay member of the board that advises the Academy.

She graduated from West Point in 1980, part of the first class of cadets that included women, and later founded an organization called KnightsOut, an organization of West Point Alumni, Staff and Faculty who are united in supporting the rights of LGBT soldiers to openly serve their country.

Fulton wanted to marry at West Point because it "has been an important part of my life," but also because Republican Governor Chris Christie in her home state of New Jersey vetoed a gay marriage bill earlier this year.

"We had always said that we wanted to get married in New Jersey," Fulton aid, "but we didn't want to wait any longer," particularly because Gnesin is a breast cancer survivor and suffers from multiple sclerosis.

yes, the times are changing. and yes, there is still work to be done. one day, hopefully soon, New Jersey will be home top marriage equality, and one day, hopefully soon, more chaplains will be allowed to officiate at same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Still, for a long time, Brenda Fulton, and most LGBT Americans, never thought a military institution would be the site of a same-sex wedding, and that's really good news.

source

Knights Out Of The Closet

Thirty-eight graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point came out of the closet recently, offering to help their alma mater educate future Army leaders on the need to accept and honor the sacrifices of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops.

In other words, to end "separate but equal" treatment of gays in the military.

The organization they formed, Knights Out, wants to serve as a connection between gay troops and Army administrators, particularly at West Point, providing an “open forum” for communication between gay West Point graduates and their fellow alumni, and to serve as advisors for West Point leaders in the eventuality—which the group believes is both “imminent and inevitable”—that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed by Congress.

“We're publicly announcing our sexuality, our orientation,” said 1st Lt. Dan Choi, a National Guardsman with the 1st Battalion., 69th Infantry. “It’s just one part of who we are in saying that we are standing to be counted.”

And they deserve to be counted; as do we all.

The formation of Knights Out follows the lead of the US Naval Academy, which has a gay support group called USNA Out, and the US Air Force Academy's Blue Alliance. Most of these groups’ members also belong to the Service Academy Gay and Lesbian Alumni social network, a group that Knights Out claims includes some active-duty commanders serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Choi, a West Point graduate and combat veteran of Iraq, said his unit is aware that he’s gay, and added, “I’m very comfortable with all the repercussions right now. To me, it’s about doing the right thing, not about trying to fit into the process that gets you the rank or prevents you from getting a discharge....If that’s the repercussion, I’m ready to take it....I think it’s more important that I let everybody know that … it is a wrong policy.”

Groups such as the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network--which says that more than 12,500 men and women have been discharged under DADT since its implementation in 1994--actively lobby for the repeal of DADT, saying the policy is discriminatory and robs the military of critical skills. On the other hand, the Center for Military Readiness just as actively lobbies to keep the policy intact, arguing that a reversal “would impose new, unneeded burdens of sexual tension” on the military.

Sexual tension? Is there no heterosexual tension? Or is it that gays in the military are too sexual, because, you know, that's all we do.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., recently introduced legislation in Congress that would repeal DADT, and the next day, White House Spokesman Tommy Vietor said the president had begun consulting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen “so that this change is done in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and national security.”

Another Democrat, Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia, has asked for a monthly report on DADT discharges, including the eleven gay soldiers discharged by the Army in January. “At a time when our military’s readiness is strained to the breaking point from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the armed forces continue to discharge vital service members under the outdated, outmoded Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy,” Moran said. “Our allies have overcome this issue, facing no adverse consequences from lifting bans focused on soldiers’ sexual orientation...[and]...Polls show the American people overwhelmingly support repealing this policy....Yet how many more good soldiers are we willing to lose due to a bad policy that makes us less safe and secure?”

Exactly.