News Round-Up: March 15, 2019

Happy birthday, Russell Todd! (photo: James Franklin)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Belated birthday wishes to my longtime buddy, Russell Todd! I've known Russell since the 90s when I first moved to the west coast. Everywhere we'd go fans would remember him as 'Dr. Jamie Frame' from Another World, Friday the 13th Part 2, and other movie/TV projects. Totally the best guy, and yes - he is that handsome :)

• Traffic on the app Tumblr has dropped by 150 million page views since banning “photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples” on the site from December 17.

• Sadly, Netflix has announced the cancellation of its reboot of the Norman Lear sitcom, One Day at a Time. The new version, featuring a Cuban-American family, was about as good as a TV sitcom can get. The series tackled coming out, homophobia, depression, and many important topics with class and intelligence. If you have Netflix, I recommend you go catch up on the 3 seasons we did get.

• A once-a-month injection to treat HIV has now passed two important trials. #LookingGood

• A new documentary, Mack Wrestles, chronicles the story of Mack Beggs, the trans male Texas high school wrestler who won the state’s girls champion despite wanting to wrestle boys. The film just premiered at the 2019 SXSW Conference & Festivals in Austin, Texas.

• Ray Mabus, the former Secretary of the Navy, blasted the Trump/Pence transgender military ban as a "stain on our country" saying the policy “tells our children that merit has no place, while prejudice does.”

.@DeptofDefense implementing this bigoted plan hurts the military & everything it stands for. Evidently it’s not enough to be able to do the job & be a patriot. This is a stain on our country & tells our children that merit has no place, while prejudice does. https://t.co/mCgJcUd9wR

— Ray Mabus (@SECNAV75) March 13, 2019