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NEWS: Anderson Cooper, Limbaugh, Keith Ablow, Allen West, Obama’s Drug War, Facebook Gay Icons

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Anderson Cooper came out today. Smart he did it on a Monday, not a Friday, so we have the week to talk about it. McKay Coppins at Buzzfeed thinks “Coming Out Could Be Anderson Cooper’s Best Career Move Yet.” Meanwhile, El Rushbo, Rush Limbaugh, thinks it was all for ratings — while doubling down on his claims that Barack Obama is gay:

Anderson Cooper has come out of the closet.  He has admitted that he’s gay. “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy.” It’s an AP story.  Wait a minute now.  It worked wonders for Obama’s fundraising.  It may be the best ratings move CNN’s made in I don’t know how long. (interruption) Well, I don’t know how odd it was.  A lot of people knew.  But now the stamp of approval, it’s now official.  Yeah, for those that didn’t know it might give CNN a ratings boost.  We’ll find out.  Yeah, maybe 120,000 up from 115,000.  Who knows.  They’ll take ’em.

On Sunday, Congressman Allen West, who once claimed himself to be a “modern-day Harriet Tubman,” said President Obama “does not want you to have the self-esteem of getting up and earning and having that title of American. He’d rather you be his slave.” West didn’t offer any proof, just as he offered no proof when he claimed there were 80 or so Communists in Congress.

Friend of the blog and Good As You founder Jeremy Hooper got to be the first to use Facebook’s new same-sex couple marriage icon. MSNBC notes “The writer, activist and author of the new book “If It’s A Choice…” updated his Timeline over the weekend with his June 2009 Connecticut  marriage to healthcare CEO Andrew Shulman with a photo of the happy couple, and a two-groom, cake topper-style image,” and added, “Hooper’s Timeline update with the new icon was soon followed by that of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, who married Sean Eldridge on Saturday.”

In “Obama Will Seek To Scale Back Drug War In Second Term: Report,” the Huffington Post points to Marc Ambinder at GQ and writes, “President Barack Obama will take steps to draw down the nation’s decades-long war on drugs if he wins a second term.”

According to Ambinder, Obama’s “aides and associates” say that the president is looking to prioritize reform, a reflection of the president’s long-held beliefs that strict drug prohibition and enforcement policies have done greater damage to society than good.

Sources close to the White House also told The Huffington Post that the administration is looking at ways that it can reduce barriers to reentering society for those caught up in the drug war, such as a longstanding policy that denies federal financial aid to college students convicted of drug-related offenses, including possession.

Wait until the Right catches a hold of that…

Mother Jones catches Focus On The Family scrubbing a blog post that compared the horrific wildfires in Colorado with pre-marital sex. because, you know…

Fox News’ Dr. Keith Ablow, taking time off from attacking Chaz Bono, is now freaking out because Apple’s new iOS — the operating system powering iPhone, iPads, and iPods — will be able to receive emergency alerts from the government. Scary, scary stuff! Because now we “can instantly be distracted, en masse, at some critical moment.”

This literally means that Americans on these and other mobile devices can be forced to—at minimum—glance at information that the government wants to convey to them. And at some date in the future, it might certainly be the case that they have to acknowledge having read it. They can instantly be distracted, en masse, at some critical moment. Perhaps they will have to enable their Face Time system to show them reading WEA messages, while they do.

Physician, heal thyself.

Romney lied about role in Bain’s investment in medical-waste firm that disposed of aborted fetuses

Gallup: “Obama Now Leads Romney, 48% to 43%

Terribly sad: A 22-year old intern for the Associated Press, Armando “Mando” Montano, who was gay, was found dead in Mexico City on Saturday. 22-years old. MetroWeekly notes:

Montano had been a Metro Weekly Coverboy back in August 2011. Asked at the time what he was most grateful for, he replied, “To have a lot of supportive people in my life.”

Montano’s first AP byline was published long before his internship, in 2010, when Montano wrote about same-sex marriages being celebrated at pride in Argentina that summer.

 

In honor of Anderson Cooper coming out, The Daily Beast put together this video:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/271557391

 

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‘None of Us Will Be Spared’: Kennedy Scion Rips RFK Jr. in Call for Resignation

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A prominent member of the Kennedy family is demanding the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the Health and Human Services Secretary made inaccurate and damaging claims in a Senate hearing just one day ago.

Secretary Kennedy, an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, told U.S. senators that he did not know the number of Americans who died from COVID, denied that his policy decisions were reducing access to the COVID vaccine, spread false or misleading claims about overall vaccine safety, and defended the changes at his agency that have led to the resignations of top officials and protests by employees.

Joe Kennedy III is a former U.S. congressman, a former U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland, and the grandson of the late U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

On Friday, he blasted RFK Jr.

READ MORE: ‘Bananas’: Trump Official Torched for Dismissing Millions of Americans as ‘Nonexistent’

“Robert Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American,” Kennedy wrote in a statement on social media. “A United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is tasked with protecting the public health of our country and its people. At yesterday’s hearing, he chose to do the opposite: to dismiss science, mislead the public, sideline experts and sow confusion.”

“None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting. It doesn’t matter how rich or powerful you are or what state you live in — the heartbreak of watching a loved one fall ill knows no borders.”

“The challenges before us-from disease outbreaks to mental health crises-demand moral clarity, scientific expertise, and leadership rooted in fact. Those values are not present in the Secretary’s office. He must resign.”

RELATED: ‘What You Said Were Lies’: Democrat Shreds RFK Jr. in Fiery Exchange

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Bananas’: Trump Official Torched for Dismissing Millions of Americans as ‘Nonexistent’

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A top Trump official is under fire after attempting to downplay the increase in the unemployment rate by declaring all 7 million people as “statistically nonexistent.”

U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer shared with Fox News several inaccurate claims, stating that consumer confidence is up — it’s down — and claiming that real wages are up year over year, almost 4% — when in reality they rose just 1.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Not only is consumer confidence down,  it is “far lower than it was for much of 2023 and 2024,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

She also claimed there is a “blue collar boom,” but Friday’s jobs report reveals blue collar jobs are stagnating, according to economics writer Joey Politano:

“US blue-collar job growth has completely stagnated, hitting the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic—manufacturing is currently losing jobs at a rapid pace, and growth in construction/transportation has slowed to a crawl.”

READ MORE: Rubio Says US Blew Up Alleged Drug Boat ‘On the President’s Orders’ — Legality Questioned

The Labor Secretary acknowledged her words may seem like rhetoric, but maintained “it’s not, because that’s what we’re seeing on the ground” — a claim contradicted by facts.

She also insisted that unemployment is “holding steady.”

“Statistically, it’s nonexistent,” she said, a remark that received tremendous blowback.

“This is a bananas quote,” declared Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “I get that they are going with ‘nothing to see here please disperse’ but saying 4.3% of the U.S. working population being unemployed is ‘statistically nonexistent’ is a pretty incredible slap in the face from the Secretary of Labor to 7 million people.”

Congressman Beyer also weighed in, writing: “The Trump Administration’s message to 7.4 million unemployed Americans is that ‘statistically’ they are ‘nonexistent.’ A stunningly awful and dishonest thing to say.”

READ MORE: Texas Makes It Easier for Kids to Skip Vaccines After Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades

“You heard that right,” declared U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). “Struggling Americans looking for a job don’t exist according to the Trump Administration. Most anti-worker admin of my lifetime. Despicable.”

“There are over 7 million people looking for a job right now,” noted U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “They matter. They don’t cease to exist because of the Trump Administration’s failed policies.”

U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) added, “Unemployment is rising and the country is losing thousands of jobs. Hard working Americans are feeling the effects of Trump’s reckless economic policies and job-killing tariffs. These are numbers we haven’t seen since the pandemic — this is entirely Trump’s doing.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

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Texas Makes It Easier for Kids to Skip Vaccines After Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades

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Texas has just moved to make it easier for parents to exempt their children from school vaccination requirements—just weeks after the worst measles outbreak in a generation ended.

762 people contracted measles over the summer. Two unvaccinated children died, and 100 people had to be hospitalized, according to PBS News.

“West Texas was the nation’s measles epicenter for months. The virus started spreading there in close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite communities in Gaines County,” PBS reported. The outbreak was declared over in mid-August.

READ MORE: Rubio Says US Blew Up Alleged Drug Boat ‘On the President’s Orders’ — Legality Questioned

This week, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) began allowing parents to download a form to request their children be exempt from any or all required vaccines. Previously, parents had to request the form, which was then mailed to them, according to The Texas Tribune.

Calling this new system “empowering,” Rebecca Hardy, executive director of Texans for Vaccine Choice, said: “The previous mailed, hard-copy process for requesting vaccine exemption affidavits was outdated, costly to taxpayers, raised privacy and tracking concerns, and created unnecessary barriers for families seeking to exercise their rights.”

DSHS also published a form telling parents the benefits and risks of immunization, but the form is not attached to the exemption request form.

Requests for exemption forms have risen dramatically.

“Since 2018, the requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services for a vaccine exemption form have doubled from 45,900 to more than 93,000 in 2024,” the Tribue reported. “Even before the new form became easier to access, the state received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form in July, 36% higher than the number reported in July 2023.”

READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report

Texas has more kindergarteners unvaccinated for measles than any other state in the nation, and falls below the 95% immunization rate required to achieve herd immunity.

In what is being called a “public health disaster,” Florida is now in the process of banning all vaccine mandates for children.

It’s not just Texas and Florida.

On Thursday, CNN reported that support for childhood vaccines being mandatory has plunged from 81% in 1991 to just 51% in 2024.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Weak, Weak, Weak’: Trump Economy Getting Worse, Majority of Americans Say

 

Image via Reuters

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