Via Joe.My.God.: Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead has ordered sensitivity training for his officers and the department has announced it is suspending "bar checks" as outrage continues over the infamous raids on the Rainbow Lounge that resulted in a severe head injury for Chad Gibson. This won't keep him from having headaches for two years, but at least it's finally the beginning of an appropriate response.
UPDATE: Check out the comments for contact info that will come in handy when letting Fort Worth know that this belated response is a baby step in the right direction...but is not nearly enough.
Sarah Palin's full resignation speech, above, is rambling. She sounds quite rattled, she attempts to pile more scorn on Blue Oasis blogger Linda Kellen Biegel for "maliciously desecrating" a photo of her son Trig and she even snarks about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's naughty "overseas international trade missions."
When will tickets be given away to the funeral for her political career?
Watch the whole thing. Then ponder this: Eight months ago, 45.7% of America's voters thought she'd make a heckuva veep.
The somewhat less wingnutty official press release is here.
Rep. Bob Filner (D) of California was at Camp Pendleton just six hours after Seaman August Provost was murdered, but no mention was made to him of the crime. He finds that suspicious and accuses the military of habitually not "telling the truth" when it comes to potential hate crimes. "There are indications" he was killed for being gay, according to Filner and Provost's family. Provost had complained of being harassed by fellow personnel and was openly gay to most people around him.
Navy spokesman Lt. Kyle Raines, Navy Region Southwest tells CNN:
"There are no indications that the body of Seaman Provost was bound, gagged or mutilated as some media have reported. There was a fire set in an effort to cover up evidence. The specific cause of death will be addressed once the autopsy report and toxicology reports have been completed. There was a person who was initially held as a person of interest. He is no longer being held. There is now a second sailor who was not previously identified to the media who has been linked to the commission of the crime through both physical evidence and his own statement. The second sailor is being held. His name has not been released."
Filner hammers home, in the above CNN report, that Don't Ask, Don't Tell and "gay hostility" may have contributed to Provost's murder. He also points out that when Provost was killed, his partner (identified as "the love of my life" on his MySpace page) was never notified by authorities because he was not recognized as a legitimate next of kin, also due to DADT.
Another reason why a full repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell should be a top priority.
Sarah Palin has announced not only that she will not seek re-election as Alaska's governor but that she is resigning. Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will be sworn in at the Governor's Picnic in Fairbanks on July 25. Alaskans redeclare their independence.
Let the theories begin: Fresh scandal brewing involving her fast-and-loose approach to state funds? Grandstanding ahead of a run for the Senate and/or White House? FOX's newest talking empty head? Anything, but please don't pin this on David Letterman.
So much for a slow news holiday weekend.
UPDATE: Palin, recently alleged to have forced a public health official out of office for being "out of step on social issues", says she wants to leave the government in order to "affect [sic] positive change" from the outside. "We know we can affect [sic] positive change outside government at this moment in time on another scale and actually make a difference." Politics? For her, it's just a "superficial, wasteful bloodsport." Superficial...like this photo from her Runner's Worldprofile:
Somewhat less important update: Zac Efron gets shorn.
Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R-duh) issues a morality proclamation that equates homosexuality and marriage equality with sex trafficking and child abuse. Don't feel too bad—divorcées, those who bear children out of wedlock and porn aficionados don't make out any better.
Has Goldman Sachs "engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression"?
Rumors that Michael Jackson (who was mixing the painkillers OxyContin and Demerol with a surgical anesthetic called Diprivan) had a cancerous lesion removed from (what was left of) his nose are confirmed. His funeral service—dubbed Michael Jackson Celebration of Life—to be held Tuesday at L.A.'s Staples Center, is projected to be one of the most-viewed events ever, drawing comparisons to the funeral of John F. Kennedy, the Apollo 11 moon landing and the finale of M*A*S*H. Want to attend? Enter here for tickets.
In light of the recent spate of air disasters, meet Juliane Koepcke, who at 17 in 1971 survived a plane crash, plunging two miles from the sky into the Amazon rainforest...still attached to her row of seats.
Vice President Biden's surprise trip to Camp Victory in Iraq leads him to tell George Stephanopolous the reports from Commanding General Ray Odierno were "more optimistic" than he'd expected. Biden also used the visit to see his son, Beau, who was stationed a few minutes away.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent its 2009 Priority Issues Survey to all of its fave donors, asking them to vote on which issues should be prioritized this year. See if you can name a dozen Democratic priorities without listing a single LGBT issue—because the DCCC can.
New York Governor David Paterson, who's only slightly more popular than H1N1, is meeting with Senate Republicans and Democrats (who are actually a few percentage points below the flu) today as a spokesman suggests progress is being made toward sharing power.
The Queen of Pop salutes the fallen King—the second leg of Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour kicks off in London tomorrow with at least three major set changes. On the Jacko tip, portions of "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something" are reportedly incorporated into a new version of "Holiday" (replacing Hard Candy album track "Heartbeat"), which is already packed with bits of "Everybody" and the new song "Celebrate." Other surprises spoiled here. (Good luck getting to O2 Arena.)
The NYC Anti-Violence Project has issued a community alert now that the New York City Police Department's Hate Crimes Bureau thinks several recent anti-gay attacks on the Upper East Side might have come at the hands of the same assailants.
In addition to Joseph Holladay, brutally beaten and robbed, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly now states, "There was an incident in Carl Shurz Park that we believe he [sic] may be associated with two other events—one that happened Saturday morning, the other happened Sunday morning. All of these events happened on the Upper East Side, the 19th precinct."
According to NY1, police are investigating whether as many as six such similar crimes might be connected. A sketch of one suspect has been released. He is identified as being "between 20 to 22 years old, about six feet tall, and 170 pounds."
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