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America To Neil Patrick Harris: We Love You. But Not In A Gay Way.

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America, you’re so fickle.

You loved him for four years as Doogie Howser, M.D. You loved him in “Starship Troopers.” You’ve loved him for the past five years in “How I Met Your Mother.” And you loved him last night as the host of the Emmys.

But thirty-six year old Neil Patrick Harris loves David Burtka, and you’re not so cool with that.

Why, America, why?

Our so-called “national conversation about race,” which we’ve never truly had, needs to happen. And it needs to include all levels and facets of the diverse human condition, including homosexuality.

Last night’s Emmys were a tribute to an amazingly talented, passionate, and often humble collection of artists. But they were also a tribute to America’s continued racism, homophobia, and sexism. And a few other “isms,” no doubt.

I noticed as the award for “Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series” was being given, that almost every writer on all five shows (Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Late Show With David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart) was a white male. Via Twitter, a friend told me she had counted six women out of sixty-five total names. The show that won, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, actually has the most diverse staff, I believe. Maybe there’s a lesson there.

The networks may try to give us a cross-section of what they can bear to think (while they cringe) they can portray as who America is. All 317 million of us. But 317 million is a lot of folks. And we include probably every “ism” under the sun. And no way are most represented.

What we see on-screen may bear a tiny resemblance to the real America. What we see behind the cameras looks like anything but.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) probably does the best job in gaining inclusion for us in the media. But here’s the title of GLAAD’s latest press release:

“GLAAD COMMENDS FOX FOR INCLUSION OF SAME-SEX COUPLE ON “SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE” FOLLOWING MEETING WITH GLAAD”

Wow. A same-sex couple on a show about… wait for it: dancing. As stereotypes go, hardly ground-breaking. I imagine fifty or sixty years ago a similar scenario would have been a show about dancing including a black couple. Seriously, folks! It’s the twenty-first century!

(Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad GLAAD was able to achieve this. But why did they even have to try?)

So, things are getting better, right?

Well, in a word, no.

Via GLAAD:

“At the launch of the 2008-2009 television season, GLAAD estimates that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) scripted characters represent 2.6% of all scripted series regular characters on the five broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW. This is nearly double last year, with 16 series regular characters identified as LGBT.

“In contrast, the number of LGBT series regular characters found on scripted programming on mainstream cable networks has decreased from last year’s analysis, from 40 to 32. The presence of LGBT-focused cable networks here! and Logo, which program specifically for LGBT viewers, add additional representations. These two networks alone will provide 39 additional series regular LGBT characters, more than all of the other cable networks combined.”

Read that again, and stop when you get to “nearly double.” Nearly double?

No wonder it feels like for every state in which we win marriage, we have to go back and fight for it again. We’re not represented in the media, and those of us who are in the media are often playing roles of those not ourselves. It’s called acting. And it’s called working. And it’s fine, but at the end of the day, at the end of all those credits, it would be nice if maybe there was one that said, “This show was brought to you by people, some of whom are LGBTQ.”

The LGBTQ community is diverse. And we fuel the very industries the Emmys, the Oscars, and the Tonys herald.

So, why is it OK for Neil Patrick Harris to win America’s heart, but not be able to marry the man who won his?

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BREAKING NEWS

Watch Live: Special Counsel Jack Smith Holds News Conference After Trump Criminal Indictment Unsealed

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2 hours ago

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June 9, 2023

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Special Counsel Jack Smith will hold a news conference Friday at 3:00 PM ET, after the U.S. Dept. of Justice unsealed its 49-page 37-criminal count indictment against Donald Trump. The indictment also names a Trump aide.

Legal experts reviewing the indictment were stunned at not only the level of detail but the manner in which Trump treated classified documents, including allegedly storing them in boxes on the stage at Mar-a-Lago, in a bathroom, a shower, and a bedroom.

Former Dept. of Defense special Counsel Ryan Goodman, now an NYU professor of law, calls the indictment “devastating,” and concludes: “Extraordinary risks to U.S. national security. Foreign adversaries would pay tens of millions for that info.”

READ MORE: ‘Disgraced’ Trump-Appointed Florida Judge Initially Assigned to Oversee Ex-President’s Criminal Case: Report

Smith, who was appointed by Donald Trump as an acting U.S. Attorney, also prosecuted war crimes cases at The Hague. he also was the head of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section.

Watch video of his full news conference below or at this link.

This article has been updated to include full video of the completed news conference.

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'EXTRAORDINARY RISKS TO U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY'

DOJ Unseals 37-Count Trump Criminal Indictment – Legal Expert Calls It ‘Egregious’ and ‘Devastating’ (Full Text)

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2 hours ago

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June 9, 2023

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The U.S. Dept. of Justice has unsealed its 37-criminal count, 49-page indictment in its case against Donald J. Trump, which includes the previously unknown and damning charge that the ex-president showed classified information to people who were not authorized to see them. One legal expert says America’s enemies would pay “tens of millions of dollars” for the classified documents.”

The indictment includes a Trump aide known in previous news reports as Walt Nauta.

“Dissemination is a much more serious crime,” former top DOJ official Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC, referring to even allowing someone to see classified information.

READ MORE: ‘Disgraced’ Trump-Appointed Florida Judge Initially Assigned to Oversee Ex-President’s Criminal Case: Report

Two of the critical passages alleging dissemination:

“In July 2021, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey (‘The Bedminster Club’), during an audio-recorded meeting with a writer, a publisher, and two members of his staff, none of whom possessed a security clearance, TRUMP showed and described a ‘plan of attack’ that TRUMP said was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and a senior military official. TRUMP told the individuals that the plan was ‘highly confidential’ and ‘secret.’ TRUMP also said, ‘as president I could have declassified it,’ and, ‘Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.'”

and

“In August or September 2021, at The Bedminster Club, TRUMP showed a representative of his political action committee who did not possess a security clearance a classified map related to a military operation and told the representative that he should not be showing it to the representative and that the representative should not get too close.”

Politico’s Sam Stein points to this photo in the indictment that allegedly shows dozens of boxes of documents “stacked on the ballroom stage at Mar-a-Lago.”

Another damning passage of the indictment states:

“The classified documents TRUMP stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.”

Former Dept. of Defense special Counsel Ryan Goodman, now an NYU professor of law, calls the indictment “devastating.”

“I have looked at all prior prosecutions under the Espionage Act and have never seen egregious facts like this,” hew writes. “Trump ‘stored his boxes containing classified documents .. in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.'”

Goodman concludes, “Extraordinary risks to U.S. national security. Foreign adversaries would pay tens of millions for that info.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith will speak to the media at 3 PM ET.

Read the full indictment below or at this link.

The United States of Americ… by ABC News Politics

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. 

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News

Trump Lawyers in Classified Docs Case Quit Hours After Indictment: Report

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5 hours ago

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June 9, 2023

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Attorneys representing Donald Trump in the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s prosecution of the former president on what reportedly are seven categories of federal felonies have resigned from representing him, just hours after a grand jury indicted their client.

“Two lawyers who represented Donald Trump in the months before he was indicted on federal charges over his handling of classified documents quit working for him Friday morning,” CNBC reports.

“This morning we tendered our resignations as counsel to President Trump, and we will no longer represent him on either the indicted case or the January 6 investigation,” Trump attorneys Jim Trusty (photo) and John Rowley said in a joint statement, according to CNN’s Alayna Treene.

“The attorneys,” CNBC also reported, “did not explain in detail why they had resigned, other than to say that ‘this is a logical moment’ to do given his indictment Thursday in U.S. District Court in Miami.”

READ MORE: ‘Disgraced’ Trump-Appointed Florida Judge Initially Assigned to Oversee Ex-President’s Criminal Case: Report

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports, “Trump announces on Truth Social that Todd Blanche will be his criminal defense attorney in the Mar-a-Lago docs case with another firm yet to be named. Jim Trusty and John Rowley are out.”

This is far from the first time Trump’s lawyers have quit.

Less than one month ago, as Alternet reported, “Timothy Parlatore, an attorney for Donald Trump, made a major announcement on Wednesday, May 17: He is leaving the former president’s legal team.”

Trusty appeared on CNN just Thursday night, to defend Trump.

Watch video below or at this link.

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. 

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