IRELAND. Pence’s visit to Ireland a certified disaster after Doonbeg Trump Hotel “boondoogle” and endorsement of Boris Johnson and Brexit.
100% THAT BITCH. Twitter user accuses Lizzo of ripping her off.
PHILIPPINES. Supreme Court rejects gay marriage appeal: “It ruled that because the applicant didn’t have a partner he hadn’t suffered from current marriage laws, therefore he can’t claim to be a victim of discrimination.”
BREXIT. Boris Johnson suffers devastating loss on first key Brexit vote.
BAD WEATHER. Stock market tumbles linked to Trump tweetstorms: ‘Days when Trump tweets a lot are associated with negative stock market returns, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said Tuesday in a report. The brokerage’s chief equity strategist, Savita Subramanian, wrote in a note that “since 2016, days with more than 35 tweets (90 percentile) by Trump have seen negative returns (-9bp), whereas days with less than 5 tweets (10 percentile) have seen positive returns (+5bp) — statistically significant.” A basis point is 0.01 percent.’
PENIS KITTY. Rescue cat with unusual markings goes viral.
HONG KONG. Chief executive Carrie Lam withdraws extradition bill: “The move responds to a major demand of the protesters, who feared China would exploit the measure to extradite suspects for prosecution in China’s opaque judicial system. But it was unclear if the concession would be enough to bring an end to intensifying demonstrations, which are now driven by multiple grievances with the government.”
THE TESTAMENTS. The first extract of Margaret Atwood’s follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, which has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
GRACE & FRANKIE. Renewed for 7th and final season. “It’s thrilling and somehow fitting, that our show about the challenges, as well as the beauty and dignity of aging, will be the oldest show on Netflix.”
FACEBOOK. Facial recognition no longer a default action. ‘Starting today, it’s rolling out its Face Recognition privacy setting, which it first introduced in December 2017, to all users. If you have Face Recognition turned on, Facebook will notify you if someone uploads a photo of you, even if you aren’t tagged. You can then tag yourself, stay untagged, or report the photo if it’s something you want taken down.’
YOUTUBE. More than 17,000 hate channels removed: “Those numbers are approximately five times as many than the company’s last quarter, according to a new blog post from YouTube about the company’s attempts to tackle a growing number of hateful and dangerous videos on the platform. This also includes doubling the removal of comments (more than 500 million) that were found to be hateful. Some of these channels, videos, and comments are old and were terminated following the policy change, according to the blog post. This could account for the spike in removal numbers.”
BALLS FOR SALE. A colorful art installation that has been hanging in Montreal’s Gay Village will soon be up for sale: “Those who want to capture a bit of the magic can purchase one of the 3,500 strands for $100. Each contains 50 or more balls made of recycled plastic in pink, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple. Proceeds will fund a new art installation to replace the now famous work via an international design competition, while $10 from each sale will go to LGBTQ+ community groups.”
BARBIE FERREIRA. Euphoria star on her and her character’s sexual orientation: “I feel like in my personal life I’ve been gay as hell … I think Kat’s a little queer, but that might be my perspective.”
KANSAS CITY. Gay softball world series to attract 5,000 people: “The NAGAAA has grown to more than 3,000 teams and 25,000 participants. The GSWS is the largest annual, LGBT, single-sport, week-long athletic competition in the world. … The NAGAAA serves as an outlet for people who may have previously been turned away from sports to get involved and have fun, Switzer said.”
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. Adam Lambert “Superpower” directed by Millicent Hailes.
HUMP DAY HOTTIES. Elijah Bradley and Ali Toufic.
