Politician invents a truly original argument against gay marriage & Twitter is obsessed
Hint: it involves crocodiles.
Daily Archives: November 20, 2017
Azzedine Alaïa, Della Reese, Armie Hammer, Emile Griffith, David Cassidy, Al Franken, Roy Moore, Robert Mueller: HOT LINKS
Azzedine Alaïa, Della Reese, Armie Hammer, Emile Griffith, David Cassidy, Al Franken, Roy Moore, Robert Mueller: HOT LINKS
ROY MOORE. Leigh Corfman speaks out. ‘Leigh Corfman, the woman who accused Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of initiating a sexual encounter when she was 14 — and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney — said she feels “a weight has been lifted” since going public with her story, even though it has cost her personally and financially…Corfman is one of nine women who have accused Moore of pursuing relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was an adult. Moore has denied all of the allegations. He also said he specifically does not know Corfman.’
GRAVELY ILL. Partridge Family‘s David Cassidy reportedly on brink of death.
ALMOST DONE OR JUST STARTING. Trump believes Mueller probe is almost over: “The Washington Post, in a report published Sunday, said White House officials think the investigation’s current emphasis on individuals who were close to the president means the probe will soon come to an end. But a current law professor who was once a federal prosecutor told the newspaper that there is no sign Mueller’s probe will soon be over.” But he ain’t.
AL FRANKEN. Woman says Franken touched her inappropriately in 2010.
RIP. Fashion designer Azzedine Alaia has died at 82. “Known as a sculptor of the female form, and worn by women from Michelle Obama to Lady Gaga, Mr. Alaïa was equally famous for his rejection of the fashion system and his belief that it had corrupted the creative power of what could be an art form.”
RIP. Touched By An Angel star and R&B singer Della Reese has died: ‘Reared in gospel, Reese became a seductive, big-voiced secular music star with her No. 1 R&B and No. 2 pop hit “Don’t You Know” in 1959. The 45, her first single on RCA Records, was a ballad drawn from an aria from Puccini’s opera “La Boheme.” She ranged through a series of releases that showed off her mastery of standards, jazz and contemporary pop through the early ‘70s, and over the course of her career she received four Grammy Award nominations.’
ARMIE HAMMER. Baring his biceps for The Hollywood Reporter.
EMILE GRIFFITH. Director Lenny Abrahamson and producer Ed Guiney, the team behind the film Room are making a film about the bisexual boxer who defeated a homophobe: ‘He’s the boxer who won world titles in two weight classes but is best remembered for beating to death Benny “The Kid” Paret in the ring during a live nationwide TV broadcast. The vicious incident occurred after Paret grabbed the buttock of his opponent and called him a homosexual at the weigh-in. Fact is, Griffith led a secret life as a bisexual man, but in 1962, such a thing was taboo and most especially in the macho culture of boxing.
SURROGACY. British mom ordered to give baby to gay couple she carried it for: “The male couple met the woman online in April 2015 and agreed to use her as a surrogate. She had done so for other people on two occassions. She travelled to Cyprus later that year to transfer the embryo – conceived with sperm from one of the men and an egg from a Spanish donor. In the months that followed, the couple fell out with the woman and her husband, who already had five other children. They cannot be named for legal reasons.”
LONG LOST FAMILY. Gay man learns he has a daughter.
VIRGINIA. Sheriff’s deputy reassigned after attending party in blackface as Rep. Frederica Wilson: ‘Her boyfriend dressed as President Trump, the newspaper reported. The local branch of the NAACP said it is “inappropriate and disheartening when anyone mocks someone’s race.”‘
COCKBLOCK OF THE DAY. This bus. “The Georgia Dome, in Atlanta, Georgia, was imploded a short time ago. While The Weather Channel was well prepared to invite all of us into observing the event what they were not expecting was a MARTA bus to obstruct the view during the climax. The reaction of the camera man is much what all of us truly felt.”
RAT RACE OF THE DAY. The A Train to Far Rockaway.
MONDAY MUSCLE. Antonin the 2nd.
The post Azzedine Alaïa, Della Reese, Armie Hammer, Emile Griffith, David Cassidy, Al Franken, Roy Moore, Robert Mueller: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.
3 Major Plot Holes In Jeremy Hunt’s ‘Disingenuous’ Rebuttal To Ralf Little
3 Major Plot Holes In Jeremy Hunt’s ‘Disingenuous’ Rebuttal To Ralf Little
And so it continues…
The weeks-long Twitter spat between Jeremy Hunt and Ralf Little opened its latest chapter on Monday afternoon as the Health Secretary launched a 26-tweet defence of his mental health strategy.
What began as a “double dare” from the actor over comments made about “the biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe” has now reached box-set proportions.
This is what it looks like when a man goes on TV and knowingly lies to the public. If I’m wrong @jeremy_hunt, sue me. I double dare you. t.co/YvdvK98Gci
October 29, 2017
WHAT HAVE I MISSED?
A recap of seasons 1 and 2 can be found here. But season 3 saw the Health Secretary “setting the record straight” and praising the “endurance and resilience” of anyone who read it, whilst also admitting that he is not funny.
25) Frankly anyone who has got this far in the thread deserves a medal for endurance and resilience not least because I am nothing like as witty as @ralflittle…
November 20, 2017
26) …. I hope you understand that in the rough and tumble of Twitter sometimes we have to put the record straight! I therefore apologise for this interminably long thread and promise this will be my final tweet on the issue.
November 20, 2017
24) So let’s do a deal: you provide me with evidence that I was – as you claim – deliberately seeking to mislead the public about mental health in my Marr interview & I will happily meet you, factcheckers and all
November 20, 2017
Hunt’s basic premise is that he is indeed overseeing “the biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe”.
HOW DID HE DO THAT?
Hunt used a variety of reports and documents to backup his argument…
3) Parity of esteem for mental health became law in 2012, so here are the tables that show the 4,300 increase in staff at mental health trusts since 2013…
November 20, 2017
4) ….more than 2,000 of which are fully qualified (e.g. not the reduction of 167 in the fullfact piece you linked). t.co/pS5O3j8Qq1
17) The New York Times praised the expansion of talking therapies as “the world’s most ambitious effort to treat depression, anxiety and other common mental illnesses” t.co/U3ppmgFBRX
November 20, 2017
There’s one slight problem – when this article was written it mistakenly asserted the “world’s most ambitious effort to treat depression, anxiety and other common mental illnesses” was treating one in three of the entire British adult population.
This is not true as a correction made after publication states:
Correction: August 29, 2017 An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the portion of adults in England who received treatment through the country’s free talk therapy program. One in three adults with common mental disorders have recently received treatment through the program, not one third of all adults.
So essentially he’s quoting a journalist who said he’s brilliant but the whole basis on which they said he was brilliant was based on a rather significant error.
PLOT HOLE #2 – The ‘Mid Staffs’ Issue
The Mid Staffs scandal refers to the negligent deaths caused at Stafford Hospital between January 2005 and March 2009 which led to a public inquiry in 2010 and a number of recommendations being made for overhauling nursing care.
In tweet number seven, Hunt suggests a decrease in mental health nurses was caused by the plugging of understaffed wards.
7) @ralflittle you pointed out that mental health nurses have gone down. This is correct, even though overall numbers working in mental health have gone up. Why? Because post Mid Staffs we realised…
November 20, 2017
8) …there were too many hospital wards with dangerously low staffing so in the last five years have increased hospital nursing staff by almost 13,000. Whilst this has been good for hosps, it has been challenging for MH
November 20, 2017
Labour’s Luciana Berger told HuffPost UK: “Mid Staffs had nothing to do with the reason why all these people were cut from community mental health nursing.
“If you’re trained to be a mental health nurse you’re not transferable to go fill the wards to deal with patient safety to do with Mid Staffs, they’re not transferable skills.
“So the idea that the cuts to community mental health nurses of over 5,500 thousand suddenly plugged the gaps is just nonsense.”
PLOT HOLE #3 – WHY DO WE NEED MORE MENTAL HEALTH NURSES IN THE FIRST PLACE?
The main thrust of season 3 is that the Tories are doing much to train mental health practitioners and provide better services.
11)….so I have corrected the record. But 12,700 more doctors and 10,600 more nurses on our wards since 2010, including 4,300 more MH staff since 2013 isn’t a bad thing surely? t.co/K3QvmQnS02
November 20, 2017
But what isn’t mentioned is that this is all in the context of huge reductions in the budgets of NHS mental health providers since the Tories came to power in 2010.
A Kings Fund analysis in 2015 found:
Funding for mental health services has been cut in recent years. Our analysis shows that around 40 per cent of mental health trusts experienced reductions in income in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
There is widespread evidence of poor-quality care. Only 14 per cent of patients say that they received appropriate care in a crisis, and there has been an increase in the number of patients who report a poor experience of community mental health care.
These transformation programmes have also resulted in far-reaching changes to the mental health workforce and have led to a significant reduction in the number of experienced nurses. This has resulted in staff shortages and insufficient staff skill mix in some areas of care.
So effectively, the increase in mental health practitioners lauded by Hunt is to plug the gaps created by austerity.
This issue was raised in July when the Government announced an extra 10,000 more staff working in mental health treatment in England by 2020 without mentioning that 6,700 mental health nurses and doctors has already been cut.
Berger told HuffPost UK: “And that’s just within mental health, part of the NHS ‘envelope’ – that doesn’t take into consideration all the other cuts of people that haven’t been replaced in, whether it’s a children’s centre, befriending services, in outdoor spaces, leisure and recreation – all these things that make a difference to keep us mentally well.
“If you don’t have all those things then people turn up at the door of the NHS. So there’s a reduction of people at the NHS but that’s not even really shining a spotlight on the thousands of people we’ve lost all across the country that actually made a difference to keeping us proactively, positively and preventively mentally well.”
Ralf Little has yet to respond but we’ll update you as soon as he does – a few plot holes never stopped Jack Bauer from getting the job done.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ralf-little-jeremy-hunt_uk_5a130a5ce4b0aa32975cacdc
57 Photos of Glittering Celebrities and Self-Revelation
57 Photos of Glittering Celebrities and Self-Revelation
www.advocate.com/photography/2017/11/20/57-photos-glittering-celebrities-and-self-revelation
Sky tambem conhecida como JD Aeon – Ocultista 100% Pagã & Wiccan
Sky tambem conhecida como JD Aeon – Ocultista 100% Pagã & Wiccan
Dea-Infinitus posted a photo:
Sky also known as JD Aeon – US UK France Brazil – UK.youtube.com/c/JDAeon
WATCH: Aja backs closer and closer to the edge of the stage until… queen down.
WATCH: Aja backs closer and closer to the edge of the stage until… queen down.
She’ll tumble for ya.
800,000+ Attend Rio Gay Pride Parade: WATCH
800,000+ Attend Rio Gay Pride Parade: WATCH
Thousands gathered on Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Copacabana beach on Sunday to celebrate the city’s annual Gay Pride Parade. Despite the country’s liberal reputation, Brazil has one of the highest rates of violence against homosexuals in Latin America. The theme of this year’s parade: resistance. One reveller said that discrimation is still rife in Brazil saying…
The post 800,000+ Attend Rio Gay Pride Parade: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Period Poverty: Chancellor Faces Cross-Party Revolt If Budget Fails To Help Girls
Period Poverty: Chancellor Faces Cross-Party Revolt If Budget Fails To Help Girls
Chancellor Philip Hammond faces a cross-party revolt if his Budget fails to end period poverty.
If Hammond does not offer fresh cash for free sanitary products in his Budget on Wednesday, MPs are preparing to throw their weight behind an amendment by Lib Dem Layla Moran that will force the Government “to do the right thing” and allocate £10m-a-year.
It comes after it emerged one in ten girls is skipping school and some were even using socks as makeshift pads.
Moran said: “In some schools, teachers are having to buy supplies out of their own pockets while food banks are increasingly being asked for sanitary products.
“In a country as prosperous as Britain it is an outrage that we can’t afford an absolute maximum of £10m-a-year for this. A growing number of MPs across the House have said they agree with me and we intend to force the government to do the right thing.”
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities Paula Sherriff, meanwhile, is calling on Justine Greening, Education Secretary and Equalities Minister, to meet schoolgirls directly affected by period poverty.
Sheriff has also voiced concerns that £250,000 of the money raised from the so-called tampon tax will go to the anti-abortion charity Life.
Greening had previously said during Education Questions in the Commons that schools and parents should take responsibility for paying for basic hygiene products.
Sherriff wrote: “At our recent Women and Equalities Questions, I raised the impact of period poverty on girls’ education. I was extremely disappointed by your reply, in which you appeared to blame parents in deprived households for any potential impact on schooling when girls first experience periods.
“I would like to invite you to meet with affected individuals and groups campaigning on their behalf, so you can hear the humiliation and indignity that period poverty causes, and how it affects girls at school.
Sheriff added that the issue is affecting women and girls at education establishments “specifically”, and said: “I do not therefore believe that this is an issue for which you can simply deny responsibility.”
Sherriff added that Life would withdraw support if a woman had chosen to have an abortion.
She said: “This is a completely inappropriate use of the tampon tax fund, and even at this late stage I would urge you as the Minister for Women and Equalities to intervene with your colleagues.
“Surely, this funding could have been spent piloting schemes to tackle period poverty. Your own Department would have been perfectly placed to organise an initiative focused on schools, for example.”
A Government spokesperson said: “We’re helping millions of families meet the everyday costs of living and keep more of what they earn. Since 2015 this government has cut income tax for over 30 million people and taken 1.3 million people out of income tax altogether.
“We have also invested over £11bn since 2011 – almost £2.5bn this year alone – through the pupil premium to tackle the impact of economic disadvantage on education and help schools support their most disadvantaged pupils. Schools have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products available to pupils if they identify this as a particular issue.
“No girl should be held back from reaching her potential because of her gender. Current guidance to schools on Relationship and Sex Education encourages schools to make adequate and sensitive arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation and with requests for sanitary protection.”
Responding to the claims about Life a spokesman for the charity said: “Should a pregnant woman who has accessed our housing service decide to terminate her pregnancy, or indeed suffer a miscarriage, then the ‘established need’ that we are offering to assist with as a charity would no longer exist as the client would no longer be pregnant.”
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/justine-greening-period-poverty_uk_5a12cb9fe4b045cf43728f9e
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2017: Remembering those we have lost
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2017: Remembering those we have lost
GLAAD
On Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), we honor the transgender people we have lost and reflect on their lives and their loved ones’ memories. Transgender people in the U.S., especially Black transgender women and other trans women of color, are impacted by fatal violence at a greater rate than all other groups. While we focus on this violence on TDOR, we must also actively work every day to end it.
Below are the names of those we have lost in 2017, as of November 20. We know this list is incomplete, in part because the media still has a long way to go in correctly naming and identifying transgender people when they are murdered. As the world’s leading LGBTQ media advocacy organization, GLAAD takes seriously our role in educating the media, correcting misgendering wherever we see it in the press, and striving to honor those we have lost the way they would want to be remembered.
We remember Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, a 28-year-old, Native transgender/Two Spirit woman who we lost to violence in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on January 1. Jamie worked in customer service, loved the library, and friends and acquaintances remembered her as proud and strong. One person said of Jamie, “She is the type of person that when she talks people stop to listen. The impact she leaves on people after meeting her once is something nobody forgets.”
We remember Mesha Caldwell, a 41-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Canton, Mississippi on January 4. Mesha was a beautician and a hairstylist and, according to a friend and activist who knew her, she “loved everyone and never met a stranger.” After Mesha’s death friends, family and loved ones left an outpouring of messages of love for her on social media.
We remember JoJo Striker, a 23-year-old, Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Toledo, Ohio on February 8. There was an outpouring of grief for JoJo on social media, following her death, and her family strongly believes that her murder was the result of hate and bias.
We remember Jaquarrius Holland, an 18-year-old, Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Monroe, Louisiana on February 19. Friends said that Jaquarrius loved make-up, hairstyling, and R&B, and they took to social media to mourn her, using her own preferred hashtag #PrettyBrown. One friend remembered Jaquarrius saying, “You were a beautiful soul. You could keep me laughing all day.”
We remember Keke Collier, also known to friends as Tiara Richmond, a 24-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Chicago, Illinois on February 21. Friends and loved ones held a candlelight vigil in KeKe’s honor, and posted loving messages to her online. One long-time friend remembered KeKe joyously, saying, “She loved to dance all the time. She was always the life of the party.”
We remember Chyna Gibson, also known by her performing name, Chyna Doll Dupree, a 31-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 25. Chyna performed in shows around the country and was well-known, loved, and remembered for having remarkable talent. One close friend remembered Chyna, saying, “She’s left a hole in our hearts, not only in New Orleans but outside here, too. I’ll never forget her.”
We remember Ciara McElveen, a 25-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 27. Following her death, a close friend who Ciara called an “auntie” to her said, “She was a blessing to me as much as I was a blessing to her.”
We remember Alphonza Watson, 38-year-old, Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Baltimore, Maryland on March 22. Alphonza loved gardening and cooking and her mother lovingly remembered her as “the sunshine of our family.” Following her death, a vigil was held in Alphonza’s honor by local transgender organizations, organizers, and advocates.
We remember Kenne McFadden, a 27-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in San Antonio, Texas on April 9. Friends, family, and local organizations and activists held a memorial and candlelight vigil for Kenne near the place where her body was found. Kenne’s mother remembered her as a poetry and music lover and sang one of her daughter’s favorite songs at her vigil.
We remember Chay Reed, a 28-year-old, Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Miami, Florida on April 21. Friends remembered Chay as a funny, caring friend who loved to dance and “was a light, always trying to make everyone around her happy.”
We remember Brenda Bostick, a 59-year-old, Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in New York City on April 25. A widely attended vigil was held for Brenda by community members, advocates, and organizers from all over New York City on the corner where they lost their life to bring attention to the crisis of violence that transgender people of color face.
We remember Sherrell Faulkner, a 46-year-old, Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 16. Friends and family took to Facebook to leave messages of love for Sherrell and grief at her death. “My heart was not ready for this,” said one friend.
We remember Josie Berrios, also known by the names Kendra Adams and Kimbella Rosé, a 28-year-old transgender Latina who we lost to violence in Ithaca, New York on June 13. Josie was remembered online as a well-known, loved, and incredibly talented performer in her community. Said one person, “She was part of so many families here in Ithaca, that many are feeling stunned and lost following this news. Her presence is still felt, and will never be forgotten.”
We remember Ava Le’Ray Barrin, a 17-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Athens, Georgia on June 25. Friends and family held a candlelight vigil to remember Ava. Tributes to Ava were also posted online, one of which called her “a brave young woman who feared nothing; nobody, and especially not being herself.”
We remember Ebony Morgan, a 28-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Lynchburg, Virginia on July 2. In response to her death, local LGBTQ activists and advocates held a community meeting to honor Ebony and discuss the violence that transgender women of color face.
We remember TeeTee Dangerfield, a 32-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Atlanta, Georgia on July 31. TeeTee worked as a restaurant server and union shop steward at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. She was a beloved union member of Local 23, which wrote a moving statement on her death. Her leadership was held up by co-workers and union members after her death, on saying: “People would go to her when they had concerns or trouble. She would be their voice. She was amazing.”
We remember Gwynevere River Song, a 26-year-old white transgender femme person who we lost to violence in Waxahachie, Texas on August 12. Gwynevere was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and identified as femandrogyne and bisexual. A memorial was held in her honor, where friends, family, and local advocates gathered. Gwynevere’s mother thanked attendees saying, “Thank you all for attending my beautiful daughter’s memorial. I miss her beautiful soul every day.”
We remember Kiwi Herring, a 30-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in St. Louis, Missouri on August 22. Herring was married to her partner and a mother to three children, and loved ones and neighbors were devastated by her death. Herring’s neighbors held a candlelight vigil to honor Kiwi. There was also an outpouring of love for Kiwi online with one person saying she was, “a parent and a human beloved by the neighborhood children around her. Kiwi fed people with love and had a contagious smile.”
We remember Ally Lee Steinfeld a 17-year-old white transgender woman who we lost to violence in Texas County, Missouri on September 1. Friends and family spoke out in the press, saying that they felt that Ally’s death was hate-motivated. Her mother remembered her as “very loving, caring, would help anybody in need, always smiled, tried to crack jokes to keep people happy.”
We remember Kashmire Redd a 28-year-old Black transgender man who we lost to violence in Gates, New York on September 4. A local LGBTQ community organization that Kashmire was connected to held a community conversation following his death.
We remember Derricka Banner a 26-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 12. There was an outpouring of support by concerned community members, activists, and advocates following Derricka’s death.
We remember Stephanie Montez, who also went by the name Elizabeth Stephanie Montez, a 47-year-old transgender Latina who we lost to violence in Robstown, Texas on October 21. A local organization held a rally in the name of justice for Stephanie and the epidemic of violence facing trans women. Friends of Stephanie also spoke out in the media about her, one friend saying “She just had a great outlook on life. She was very supportive of everyone.”
We remember Candace Towns a 30-year-old Black transgender woman who we lost to violence in Macon, Georgia on October 29. Following her death, Candace’s friends and family remembered her in loving posts on social media. Others spoke to the press, with one friend remembering her generosity, saying “If I needed anything she would give it to me. She would give me the clothes off her back.”
For a complete list of trans people killed in other countries, visit The Transgender Day of Remembrance site. (Please note that the site contains details about the way each person was killed, and some people may find those details disturbing.)
Rest in peace and power, all those we have lost.
November 20, 2017
Issues:
www.glaad.org/blog/transgender-day-remembrance-2017-remembering-those-we-have-lost
Violence Isn’t the Only Threat to Transgender Youth
Violence Isn’t the Only Threat to Transgender Youth
The prevalence of eating disorders in the trans community is often pushed to the sidelines.
www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/11/20/violence-isnt-only-threat-transgender-youth