News Round-Up: August 24, 2018

Dan Welden

Some news items you might have missed:

• Fresh from the barber, that fierce fade on NYC trainer and InstaHunk Dan Welden. #ReadyForTheWeekend #woof

• More legal woes for Academy Award-winner Kevin Spacey as authorities in Los Angeles County are now looking into a second set of sexual misconduct allegations.

• Indicted on charges of misuse of campaign funds (to an incredible degree), GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter found himself on the receiving side of "Lock him up!" chants as he reported to the federal courthouse in San Diego yesterday. Hunter was the second member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president. #BirdsOfaFeather?

Rep. Duncan Hunter arrived at court in San Diego and was met with protesters chanting "Lock him up!" pic.twitter.com/HsW9GR0xpB

— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) August 23, 2018

• While Donald Trump's former campaign chair was found guilty of 8 felony counts, it turns out just one pro-Trump juror kept Paul Manafort from being found guilty on the other 10 counts.

• Speaking of Manafort, I've been saying for months he's expected a presidential pardon from Trump. The Washington Post is reporting Trump asked about a pardon for Manafort weeks ago, but they told him to chill for a bit until political times were better.

• I know we're only 8 months through 2018, but I'm still eyeing out recording artist Starley's "Love Is Love" as one of my top tracks of the year.

Check out the freshly released music video for the uber-talented singer/songwriter below. I previously wrote about Starley and the top pop tune here.

I just love this.

News Round-Up: August 3, 2018

Dan Welden

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Dan Welden (above) is giving you some #FlexFriday

• Launched in response to the recent ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case, Yelp has added a new 'Open to All' category/filter which aims to help protect consumers from discrimination.

• Apple, led by openly-gay CEO Tim Cook, has become the first private-sector company to be valued at over $1 trillion. Don't tell me the gays can't compete...

• After rescuing the adorable Beemo in South Korea, hottie Gus Kenworthy adopted another rescue from SK:

The day Matt and I visited the horrifying dog meat farm in South Korea we witnessed a mother dog giving birth to a litter of pups. The people at @hsiglobal told us that had they not been there filming my visit nobody would've seen the pups immediately and they likely would've died in the brutal cold. Luckily though I saw them and they were rushed inside and saved. A few weeks later when all 90 of the dogs on that farm (including Beemo) were flown to North America that mother and her newborn litter were the only ones that stayed behind because the pups were too young to travel. After Beemo passed away I was feeling completely empty and I reached back out to the Humane Society International to find out what happened to that litter. I found out that they were still in Korea and I began getting photo and video updates on them as I waited for another farm closure and an opportunity for them to be brought to the States. That finally happened and four days ago I picked this little girl up in DC. She's a 5-month-old Jindo/ Lab mix and we named her Birdie (because birds were one of Beemo's favorite things in the world). Nothing in the world could ever replace Beemo or the love that we felt and still feel for her but Birdie has already stolen a new place in our hearts and we're excited to be dog dads again. A HUGE thank you goes out to @hsiglobal for bringing our new baby home and for all they do for animals in need around the world (follow them and support their cause). Also an immense amount of gratitude goes to @awlaarlington for taking care of Birdie in DC until I could fly there to pick her up! I am going to continue Beemo's Instagram with pupdates on Birdie. I was nervous that would seem disrespectful to Beemo's memory but I actually LOVE the idea that both of my beautiful little girls will share the page. Also, a huge part of the reason I started Beemo's page in the first place was to continue promoting animal rescue and raise awareness for the dog meat trade and since the page already has a following I thought it'd be more impactful to keep it going rather than start all over again. Follow along! @b_pups #DogsAreFriendsNotFood #AdoptDontShop 👨‍👨‍👧🐥🐶🐾❤️ 🇺🇸

A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on Aug 2, 2018 at 7:33pm PDT

• Despite assurances from the intelligence community that Russia is continuing to meddle in our elections, U.S. Senators on Wednesday rejected a Democratic proposal by a vote of 50-47 to provide funds to states with more election security funding ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Sixty votes were needed to include the proposal in the appropriations legislation under Senate rules.

• Former Marine and Army National Guardsmen Brandon Ketchum, 33, committed suicide after being denied admittance to a VA facility in Iowa City, despite telling doctors that he was having “serious mental issues.” Ketchum had been struggling with PTSD and substance abuse after returning home from his three tours overseas.

• And let's close out this round-up with shining a light on this hideous woman who attempted to call ICE and have a mother deported for breast feeding. I love the woman recording telling the bigot to "Go back to Europe. That's where you're from." #TrumpNation

White woman threatens to call ICE on a breastfeeding woman she assumes is an immigrant. Local hero starts recording and confronts the harasser: "This isn’t YOUR country. Go back to Europe. That’s where YOU'RE from.”
pic.twitter.com/tnyeCJ1rVq

— Q. Allan Brocka (@allanbrocka) August 3, 2018

News Round-Up: June 20, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Dan Welden (above) is getting his summer on. Who's doing what this summer? Lake time? Pool time? Vacay?

• A gay military veteran who was harassed and spit on by neighbors was honored at a Los Angeles Pride event for his contributions to his community.

• Last night, Stephen Colbert took time to profile the virulently anti-LGBT extremist Scott Lively, whose currently running for governor in Massachusetts. As Colbert notes, when you google Lively, Adolf Hitler comes up in the "People also searched for" column. Check out the funny but factual 3 minute segment below.

• Longtime GOP strategist Steve Schmidt quit the Republican Party in a ripping Twitter rant denouncing the party's "feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.”

• Federal authorities have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Donald Trump.

• Canada's Parliament passed bill C-45 this week legalizing marijuana for the entire country. Starting October 17 Canadians will have access to legal, regulated cannabis. Watch the announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau below.

NEW: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announced that marijuana will be legal nationwide on October 17. “We will soon have a new system in place, one that keeps cannabis out of the hands of our kids, and keeps profits away from organized crime.” https://t.co/PuL9LzkZPe pic.twitter.com/sxpTOPuoX1

— ABC News (@ABC) June 20, 2018