BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Sure to be repeated daily in what passes for breaking news, Hunter Biden has been indicted on gun charges no one else would be if their name wasn’t Biden. We wait patiently for an NRA statement in his defense.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fed the last scraps of his soul to the MAGA hounds, ordering an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his “crime family.” (Surely there has never been a more terrifying Mafia don than Jill Biden!). One good note: White House Counsel under Trump issued a ruling that an impeachment inquiry without a house vote was illegitimate and did not have to be complied with.

The Right’s war on diversity continues to take casualties, as more corporations drop their diversity training. Happy days are here again for white America!

Senator John Fetterman celebrated Biden’s win on marijuana, and Mitt Romney announced he will not run again in 2024, while expressing his belief that most of the Republican party no longer believes in the Constitution.

The Weekly Readlines is a feature at LGBTSr.com offering news you can use every Friday.

BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

First things first: Happy belated birthday to Peanut, the world’s oldest living chicken! What’s her secret?

Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida, causing a 100-year-old oak tree to fall on the governor’s mansion in retaliation for his anti-woke policies.

Canada issued a warning to LGBTQ travelers to avoid the United States. Mitch McConnell froze again during a press conference, with the ever-classy Marjorie Taylor Greene calling him unfit for office.

The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr providing news you can use every Friday.

In Memoriam:  Laura Ann Carleton, murdered for being a friend of the LGBTQ community. Her killer was a Christian extremist, no surprise there.

Republicans had their first debate in Milwaukee, without Trump. Be very afraid.

Students say bans on LGBTQ topics and discussions are pointless: they were never taught in class anyway.

And the ‘war on woke’ is flopping as a fire starter for the GOP. Most Republicans are over it, if they ever cared in the first place, which is unlikely.

Quote for the Week: “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.” – Clarence Thomas, in a documentary financed by one of his billionaire benefactors

BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Maui has been devastated by wildfires, claiming at least 55 lives and destroying the historic town of Lahaina, once the seat of the Hawaiian kingdom.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has requested January 2 as the start date for Trump’s trial, possibly hoping to make him a convicted felon in time for Super Tuesday.

And The Band’s Robbie Robertson died at 80, having given us the most most famous and unfortunately enduring Confederate apologia ever recorded, The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down. If only it had stayed there.

LGBTQ NEWS

Milan To Resume Registering Children From Male Couples
Reuters

Dr. Fauci To Be Succeeded By First Openly LGBTQ Director Of NIAID
Washington Blade

On a personal note: The Readlines is moving to Friday mornings, as I change my production schedule. Other new content from LGBTSr.com will go out on Mondays. – Mark

Quote for the week: “The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” – Special Counsel Jack Smith

BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Former President Donald Trump was indicted (again). The charges are extremely serious, involving his efforts to overturn the election he lost, and may result in America having its first incarcerated Commander in Chief.

Actor Paul Reubens, aka Peewee Herman, died at 70. While it was sad, it was another one of those ‘He was 70?!’ moments I experience these days when people who are essentially my peers are exiting Planet Earth.

LGBTQ NEWS

Anti-LGBTQ Bills Drive Top Louisiana Kids’ Heart Doctor Out Of State
Shreveport Times

Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame to announces 2023 inductees
Windy City Times

Quotes for the Week: “If any Arizonan believes that they have been the victim of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, or ancestry in a place of public accommodation, they should file a complaint with my office. I will continue to enforce Arizona’s public accommodation law to its fullest extent.”

– Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes

“The court is part of a gang of reactionaries clawing back rights we already won, which means we can win them back.”

– Rebecca Solnit, on the current Supreme Court majority.

BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Civil rights groups sue Harvard to end affirmative action for kids of rich white alumni.

Cocaine was found in the White House, possibly left behind by Trump family or Hunter Biden, depending on your political affiliation.

And this July 3 was the hottest day ever recorded. Climate change? What climate change?

LGBTQ NEWS

Arizona AG Kris Mayes Tells Supreme Court To Take Their Discrimination Elsewhere
DailyKos

Governor Expands Spending Benchmarks to LGBT, Disability-Owned Businesses
iBerkshires.com

The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines) is a round with news you can use every week. Today’s special edition is brought to you by a house on fire.

  Quote for the Week: “The logic would be amusing if it weren’t so embarrassing.” – Justice Sotomayor, scorching Gorsuch in her dissent in the LGBTQ discrimination case.

  BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

SCOTUS took a blow torch to freedom at the end of its term, slicing and dicing 50 years of affirmative action, gut-punching Bidens student debt relief effort, and greenlighting anti-LGBTQ discrimination as the cherry of top of their hate fudge sundae.

  LGBTQ NEWS

Moms for Liberty’s Conference Infiltrated by Activists Calling Out Its Hate
Advocate.com

House Democrats organize against anti-trans bills across U.S. – Axios
Axios

LGBT Support Makes Good Economic Sense
Marketplace.org

The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a Wednesday roundup of news you can use.

NEWS FLASH! I will now be providing The Weekly Readlines every Wednesday, and sending it to our email subscribers as a stand-alone supplement. All other content will arrive in their virtual mailboxes on Friday as usual. – Mark/the newsroom team

Quote for the Week: “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Anonymous

  BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

In a bit of good news amidst the onslaught of hate, a Federal judge permanently blocked Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Hunter Biden reached a plea deal on tax-evasions charges and a gun violation, causing right-wing head explosions nationwide.

The most recent one-term president was raked over the coals in an interview with Bret Baier on Fox, essentially admitting to obstructing justice. But will he soon have a jumpsuit to match the spray tan?

  LGBTQ NEWS

’Just Us’ Documentary Explores The Lives Of LGBTQ People
Colorado Public Radio

Building Support, Celebrating Contributions Are Key to LGBTQ+ Pharmacists
Pharmacy Times

The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a roundup of news you can use every Friday.

  Quote for the Week: “Our thing is this: If you come into this house, love one another. If you’re an a–hole, there are plenty of other places on Lower Broadway to go.” Garth Brooks, on continuing to serve Bud Light at his Nashville bar

  BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Dozens of supporters showed up to protest the former president’s arraignment in Miami, in a show of force unequaled since Attila the Hun led his horsemen down the steppes.

A Starbucks union reported that Starbucks pulled its Pride merch nationwide, before a corporate denial the same day. Avoid the controversy, support your local coffee shops!

President Biden showed he had the spine lacking in corporate America to stand up for LGBTQ people by flying the Pride flag at the White House, much to the dismay of the rightwing hate machine.

And the great Glenda Jackson, whose breathtaking portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I on PBS so many years ago, has left this mortal coil.

The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr offering news you can use every week.

Quote for the Week: “Until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ I think you’re focusing on the wrong shit.” – Wanda Sykes

  BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Tina Turner has died at 81, and the world mourns the loss of a great.

In hopeful signs, several Florida cities are fighting back, refusing to cancel Pride events or ban drag performers from them. Meanwhile, Target has moved some of its Pride merchandise to the back of its stores because that’s what threats of violence can make  you do – and they know it.

Governor Ron “Benito” DeSantis has announced his candidacy, setting himself up as the little stuffed arcade doll Trump will soon be blasting off the shelf. Perhaps the only entertainment value in any of this?

And the country teeters once again on the verge of default, held hostage by the usual Republican suspects to the surprise of absolutely no one.