PHOTOSHOPPED President Trump posts altered images to Facebook and Instagram to make himself appear more fit, make his fingers longer.
CAMERON COLE Gay UK Big Brother housemate says he gets “homophobic abuse on a daily basis.” “Somebody, somehow, got my number too. It’s a no-caller-ID and rings me every time I’m on an Instagram live. They shout a barrage of homophobic remarks and you can’t get a word in edgeways.” BACKSTORY HERE.
CONNECTICUTSenate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven seeks end to gay and trans panic defenses: ‘Looney, an attorney who practices criminal law, wants state statutes to be amended so a criminal defendant may not claim the “shock” of learning that a person was gay or transgender to justify or excuse the violence perpetrated against that person.
SURFS UP Rob Lowe shows off his surfer side in this new feature in the January/February issue of Men’s Health magazine, on newsstands now. The 54-year-old actor opened up about his sobriety, his desire to look good, and more. Check it out:On his desire to look good: “Men deny having vanity – that’s the greatest vanity. Not me. I’m vain as f—-.” On becoming sober at 26 and channeling that energy into fitness: “It became an outlet for all of the tension, stresses, compulsivity. I funneled the addiction, frankly, into that.”
MONTANA Public schools block pro-LGBTQ websites: ‘Currently, Human Rights Watch and GLAAD are inaccessible to students for what the filer describes as being in the category of “AlternativeSexualLifestyles(GLBT)”. A list of blocked keywords and subjects have been leaked to CounterPunch, but the totality of sites affected is not clear. Students say they are still uncovering websites that have been impacted.’
TRAILER OF THE DAY American Gods debuts new trailer.
WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN Mohamed al-Gheiti, who has expressed his stance against homosexuality on several occasions, was accused of promoting homosexuality and contempt of religion.
Egypt’s government media council banned “homosexuals” from appearing on any media outlet after a rainbow flag was raised at a concert in Cairo in 2017, in a rare public show of support for the LGBT community in the conservative, mainly Muslim country.
GAMBIT The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a comic geek’s wet dream come true. However one of its most popular characters, Gambit, has been sitting around for years playing Solitaire waiting for his chance at marketable merchandise fame. Enter Channing Tatum. He has been in talks of portraying the character forever, but after the project was shunned by a slew of directors, he’s laying all of his cards on the table and claiming he will direct the movie himself.
DISPATCH FROM THE WEST WING Aaron Sorkin tells CNN that the new crop of Dems need to “stop acting like young people.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday responded to director Sorkin’s suggestion saying in a Tweet: “News Flash: Medicare for All & equal rights aren’t trends. When people complain about low turnout in some demos, it’s not because communities are apathetic, it’s bc they don’t see you fighting for them,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “If we don’t show up for people, why should you feel entitled to their vote?”
Aaron Sorkin: The new crop of Dems need to “stop acting like young people” pic.twitter.com/qGZqWDpXi8
— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 20, 2019
HAPPY MLK JR DAY! Read Dr King’s letter from a Birmingham jail.
¿QUE PASO? AeroMexico trolled Americans with brilliant ad.
While the debate over immigration and a border wall between the United States and Mexico has helped grind the U.S. federal government to a halt, Mexico’s national airline, AeroMexico, is trolling Americans with a new ad called “DNA Discounts.”
The ad features purported residents of Wharton, Texas, a town about 60 miles southwest of Houston, professing a variety of opinions about Mexico and its citizens. The ad also drops some knowledge about the long history of immigration from Mexico to the U.S., and notes that many in southern and southwestern states have a touch of Mexican DNA.
Things get flipped when the airline reveals it’s offering flight discounts to Americans, including those Wharton residents, based on the amount of Mexican DNA they have (i.e., 18 percent DNA equals an 18 percent discount). That certainly turns opinions around. As one recipient says, “I love discounts!”
Watch below.
ARE GENDER REVEAL PARTIES A SHAM? BitchMedia says, “Gender-reveal parties are a widely known phenomenon—a modern tradition among some families. Recording these celebrations and posting them on the internet came into vogue in roughly 2008, when the first gender-reveal video was uploaded to YouTube featuring a couple simply opening an envelope with their ultrasound results among family, a fairly tame affair compared to their current iteration. Social media was nascent, but slowly becoming a way of documenting lived experiences for public consumption and social capital. It allowed people to curate their own lives across various platforms, and as is the case with gender reveals, offered accessibility. Suddenly, private life events gained something they’d never had before: an audience. Equal parts performative theater and stylized oral history, social media began to redefine life, recollection, and living memory, and the “gender reveal” persists as a memorable component of that wave.
Nowadays, gender-reveal parties are an event—almost a milestone—with their own dedicated cottage industry that has cropped up everywhere from Facebook to Twitter, to Pinterest, to Etsy.
WANKER Northern Ireland forward Gavin Whyte may face discipline after a video emerged on social media of him walking through the Belfast city center semi-naked and engaged in a lewd act.
BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE Find someone to keep you warm.
