Hellboy, Ralph Shortey, Depeche Mode, JJ Abrams, Sean Spicer, Kelly Clarkson: HOT LINKS

Hellboy, Ralph Shortey, Depeche Mode, JJ Abrams, Sean Spicer, Kelly Clarkson: HOT LINKS

SEAN SPICER. “Have you ever seen the president naked?”

H.R. McMasterIRONY. Leaked memo reveals White House attempt to plug leaks.

DEFIES COMMON SENSE. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested government jet to take him and Louise Linton on Honeymoon.

RALPH SHORTEY. Former GOP Oklahoma state senator sought “boy or bromance” on Craigslist: ‘The investigation of former state Sen. Ralph Shortey uncovered evidence that he posted Craigslist ads several times “attempting to solicit young males for sexual contact,” the FBI reports.’

James Woods Amber TamblynCALLING ME LIAR? Amber Tamblyn is not finished ripping James Woods to shreds.

WHEN MADONNA CALLS. Boy Culture hooks up with Madonna producer Patrick Leonard and “Dear Jessie” at Joe’s Pub in NYC.

STAR WARS GAY CHARACTERS. Will JJ Abrams keep his promise? ‘So far, there’s yet to be an LGTBQ character in the Star Wars universe, but Abrams’ last outing did introduce us to our first female and black leads in Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn. Perhaps he has more diversity up his sleeve for the final installment?’

WILL & GRACE. Will its portrayal of gay life hold up?

BROAD CITY. How they gave Bevers a bangin’ bod. “We first shot the scene with John Gemberling, so that we could figure out the blocking and the cadence and we put a small green screen behind his head and shoulders,” Burns says. “Then the body double came in and reenacted the scene with no shirt on and acted in the same manner and area where he did it. We just swapped [his head] out for each shot. We had the body and we had [John’s] head in that same lighting and general area and they were able to lay his head over the body and clean up around the edges.”

WORKING IT OUT. Orlando Bloom posts shirtless workout videos inspired by The Rock.

RAMI MALEK. As Freddie Mercury at Live Aid:

KELLY CLARKSON. I lost millions after refusing writing credit with Dr. Luke: “I was making a point to the people working with me going, ‘This is how much I didn’t want to do this.’ I don’t care about the money. I don’t care about, ‘Oh, you’re going to be the most famous person ever if you do this.’ That’s not what holds weight in my life.”

DAVID HARBOUR. The Stranger Things actor has transformed into Hellboy. “To prepare for the role, Harbour enlisted the help of celebrity trainer Don Saladino, whose clientele also includes Ryan Reynolds. Using heavy makeup and prosthetics to achieve a ripped look, Harbour’s version is a realistic figure like the comic books portrays.”

Holy crap… first look #hellboy pic.twitter.com/T63IpVvEHs

— Mike Mignola (@artofmmignola) September 13, 2017

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. Depeche Mode “Cover Me”.

THIRSTY THURSDAY. Jurrd.

Instagram Photo

 

Instagram Photo

 

Instagram Photo

The post Hellboy, Ralph Shortey, Depeche Mode, JJ Abrams, Sean Spicer, Kelly Clarkson: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.


Hellboy, Ralph Shortey, Depeche Mode, JJ Abrams, Sean Spicer, Kelly Clarkson: HOT LINKS

ACLU Asks Court for Immediate Halt to Trump Transgender Military Ban

ACLU Asks Court for Immediate Halt to Trump Transgender Military Ban

james mattis military transgender

The ACLU has asked for an immediate halt to Trump’s ban on transgender military service while its lawsuit moves through the court system.

From the ACLU:

The motion for preliminary injunction was filed on behalf of the ACLU of Maryland and six current members of the armed forces who are transgender: Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone, Senior Airman John Doe, Airman First Class Seven Ero George, Petty Officer First Class Teagan Gilbert, Staff Sergeant Kate Cole, and Technical Sergeant Tommie Parker.

In the filing, the ACLU argues that a preliminary injunction is needed to ensure that irreparable harm is not done to military personnel and potential enlistees who are transgender while the case is resolved in the courts. The ACLU motion argues that the ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process as well as the statutory right to medical care that all service members enjoy.

“Men and women who are transgender should be allowed to serve their country rather than being exposed to this level of uncertainty and harm,” said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. “We’re confident that the courts will eventually strike down this unconstitutional ban. So we’re demanding a court order to prevent this shameful policy from ever being implemented.”

At the culmination of a thorough process, the Department of Defense concluded in 2016 that there was no basis for the military to exclude transgender individuals from openly serving their country, subject to the same fitness requirements as other service members. This review process carefully considered and rejected the notion that medical costs, military readiness, or other factors presented any reason to discriminate against transgender individuals, many of whom had already been serving with honor in silence for years.

Defense Secretary James Mattis (above) last month stalled Donald Trump’s order expelling transgender military service members, delaying implementation of the order until further study is undertaken.

Mattis’s announcement was slammed by NCLR’s Shannon Minter:

This…is playing into a patently bogus strategy to make it appear that there is going to be some new “study” that will legitimate what is already a forgone conclusion: the discriminatory banning of military service by transgender people, based on a characteristic that has no bearing on their fitness to serve. The August 25 Memorandum is perfectly clear: President Trump has ordered the military to ban transgender people from serving. That ban will go into effect in about 7 months, on March 23. That appalling decision is not (and cannot possibly be, given its timing) based on any hastily assembled, post hoc “study” that is being cooked up now in a transparent effort to provide a retroactive fig leaf for the President’s bigotry. This order is an act of pure animus toward transgender people. The military spent two years carefully reviewing all of the relevant evidence on this issue and concluded that there is no reason to exclude transgender people from military service. The cost of inclusion is literally negligible, and there is no evidence that permitting open service will have any negative impact on military readiness. The notion that there is any good faith “study” being conducted is a blatant pretext for unmitigated, vicious, baseless discrimination.

The post ACLU Asks Court for Immediate Halt to Trump Transgender Military Ban appeared first on Towleroad.


ACLU Asks Court for Immediate Halt to Trump Transgender Military Ban