June 30, 2021

'Football is gay'

So. It’s been, what? About a week since Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib came out publicly as a gay man. And now, as Pride Month draws to a close, the NFL is coming out as gay, too!

Yesterday (Monday, June 28), on the official NFL Twitter page, the league tweeted: “If you love this game, you are welcome here. Football is for all. Football is for everyone. For more information on how you can help the @TrevorProject, visit TheTrevorProject.org.”

That is followed by a video with white writing on a black background declaring, “Football is gay.” That is followed by a montage of a series of other statements including, “Football is lesbian,” “Football is beautiful,” “Football is transgender, “Football is queer” and “Football is for everyone.” It ends with “Football is Freedom,” “Football is American,” followed by the rainbow version of the NFL shield (see above) and the line “The NFL proudly supports The Trevor Project,” and the website to make donations to the Trevor Project.

https://dallasvoice.com/football-is-gay/
(no more at link)

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1409527004899201042

June 30, 2021

'Football is gay'

So. It’s been, what? About a week since Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib came out publicly as a gay man. And now, as Pride Month draws to a close, the NFL is coming out as gay, too!

Yesterday (Monday, June 28), on the official NFL Twitter page, the league tweeted: “If you love this game, you are welcome here. Football is for all. Football is for everyone. For more information on how you can help the @TrevorProject, visit TheTrevorProject.org.”

That is followed by a video with white writing on a black background declaring, “Football is gay.” That is followed by a montage of a series of other statements including, “Football is lesbian,” “Football is beautiful,” “Football is transgender, “Football is queer” and “Football is for everyone.” It ends with “Football is Freedom,” “Football is American,” followed by the rainbow version of the NFL shield (see above) and the line “The NFL proudly supports The Trevor Project,” and the website to make donations to the Trevor Project.

https://dallasvoice.com/football-is-gay/
(no more at link)

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1409527004899201042

June 30, 2021

New Roky Erickson (of the 13th Floor Elevators) Tribute Books A Waterloo Records Release Party

AUSTIN -- In 1990, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye reintroduced the world to Texan psych pioneer Roky Erickson with an extensive tribute album including contributions from the Butthole Surfers, R.E.M., the Jesus & Mary Chain, Doug Sahm, and ZZ Top. Three decades later, it remains an essential document of the rock & roll pioneer’s vast influence.

Produced by longtime Erickson fan, booster, and friend Bill Bentley, then a senior publicist at Warner Bros. Records, the collection of covers manifested with the intention of raising money for its struggling subject by exposing his music to a wider audience. In fact, it proved a turn-around event evidenced by the ensuing late-career triumphs of Erickson, who died May 31, 2019.

Now, Bentley’s captained a second Erickson tribute, an all-new songbook brimming with modern interpretations of the 13th Floor Elevators frontman. May the Circle Remain Unbroken: a Tribute to Roky Erickson releases July 17, Record Store Day, on choice archival label Light in the Attic. Advance ears on the 12-song comp proves that the godfather of Austin rock continues to serve as a supernatural inspiration to artists of multiple generations.

Wait ’til you hear Ty Segall taking on “Night of the Vampire” and Neko Case handling “Be And Bring Me Home.”

Read more: https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2021-06-28/new-roky-erickson-tribute-books-a-waterloo-records-release-party/

June 30, 2021

Mississippi Lawmakers Hear Testimony on Medical Marijuana

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two prominent Mississippi physicians urged lawmakers Monday to put “guardrails” in place if medical marijuana is legalized in the state, warning that officials should be careful about making a product available that has not been thoroughly tested by the FDA—especially when it comes to children.

Meanwhile, a patient advocate told the stories of three Mississippi children who experience seizures and want to be able to access medical marijuana as a treatment. The advocate said they have tried FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs, and none have helped.

The Mississippi Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee met to hear testimony on the effect a medical marijuana program could have on the state. It’s the second time the committee has met since the state Supreme Court ruled in May that a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative is void because Mississippi’s initiative process is outdated.

Many lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, have expressed support for the Legislature returning to the Capitol outside of the normal session to pass medical marijuana legislation and honor the will of the voters.

Read more: https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2021/jun/29/mississippi-lawmakers-hear-testimony-medical-marij/

June 30, 2021

'Ominous' Delta Variant To Become Predominant Strain in Mississippi, Dr. Dobbs Warns

State health officials are warning of the growing Delta variant of COVID-19, a strain of the virus experts have identified as significantly more infectious and potentially more lethal than wild-type coronavirus.

“Delta variant increasingly rapidly in MS,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs wrote earlier today on social media. “Let’s pay attention to Missouri. I predict it will be our dominant strain in 1-3 weeks.”

Dobbs’ comments represent an alarming acknowledgment of a viral trend growing in the South. Missouri currently has the nation’s highest rate of new cases of COVID-19, a daily case average of 693. Just as concerning, that average is on a steep incline, up 40% from only two weeks ago.

Arkansas, too, is on a steeper incline still, with 55% more cases on average than two weeks ago. The Delta variant has yet to seriously penetrate the Magnolia State, with only 29 reported cases thus far. But looking ahead in the metrics and early warning-signs, Dobbs has seen fit to raise the alarms. “New batch of testing (is) ominous,” Dobbs wrote.

Read more: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/13297/ominous-delta-variant-to-become-predominant-strain-in-mississippi-dr-dobbs-warns/

June 30, 2021

Black Mississippians Paved The Way For State Flag Change A Year Ago Today

For 126 years, a banner based upon the Confederacy’s first national flag and the Confederate battle flag waved atop poles and government buildings, reminding residents of the Blackest state in the nation that white supremacy still ruled in Mississippi. That changed one year ago today when years of work paid off for the Black Mississippians who led the effort to retire the 1894 Mississippi State Flag.

“I feel good,” Sen. Hillman Frazier (D), a Black lawmaker from Jackson who worked on the flag issue for decades, told the Mississippi Free Press on the anniversary of the Legislature’s historic vote to take the old flag down.

That would not have happened, he said, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, which cut the spring 2020 legislative session short. After early spring lockdowns, lawmakers in the mostly white, Republican-led Mississippi House and Senate reconvened over the late spring and summer months.

“COVID gave us more time to talk about the issues and have heart-to-heart discussions. So I had time to talk to my colleagues one-on-one. That was important. … Had it been a regular session, it wouldn’t have passed because we wouldn’t have time to get around to talking to our colleagues,” Frazier said.

Read more: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mississippians-paved-the-way-for-state-flag-change-a-year-ago-today/

June 29, 2021

California bans state-funded travel to 5 more states bringing the total to 17, including Mississippi

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Monday that California will restrict state-funded travel to Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia as a result of “new anti-LGBTQ+ legislation recently enacted in each state.”

“The states are a part of a recent, dangerous wave of discriminatory new bills signed into law in states across the country that directly work to ban transgender youth from playing sports, block access to life-saving care, or otherwise limit the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community,” the release from the California AG states. “Many states pushing these new discriminatory laws are already on California’s travel restrictions list. The new restrictions on state-funded travel to the states announced today are prescribed by law in California pursuant to Assembly Bill 1887 (AB 1887), which was enacted in 2016.”

https://twitter.com/RobBonta/status/1409608599563735040

Mississippi has been on the California state-funded travel ban list since 2016, along with Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, and Tennessee.

The California AG says the bans are “about aligning our dollars with our values.”

“Rather than focusing on solving real issues, some politicians think it’s in their best interest to demonize trans youth and block life-saving care,” AG Bonta said in the release. “Make no mistake: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it.”

Read more: https://yallpolitics.com/2021/06/29/california-bans-state-funded-travel-to-5-more-states-bringing-the-total-to-17-including-mississippi/

June 29, 2021

Will rumors of Gunn gubernatorial run change MS House dynamics for next two years?

Talk of a possible Speaker Gunn for Governor campaign raises eyebrows with some House Republicans.


Rank and file members of the Mississippi House, along with their fellow Mississippians, have been watching from afar as the political back-and-forth has publicly boiled over the last two years between Speaker Philip Gunn and Governor Tate Reeves. While there is still a thin public veneer of civility, episodically, tensions have escalated to the point where both Republicans seem to wield their influence in tit-for-tat political skirmishes.

Speaker Gunn’s attempts to politically outflank Governor Reeves with the Republican base has fueled open speculation that he may jump in the 2023 gubernatorial Republican primary against Reeves. As Daily Journal Executive Editor Sam Hall wrote in his Op-Ed on Sunday, Gunn is sending some not so subtle hints that he is at least considering a primary challenge of Reeves.

In an off-session statewide speaking tour couched as selling his income tax elimination plan, Gunn has denied it. On several occasions, he’s answered the question head on by saying, “Right now, I’m only running for Speaker of the House,” or some other variation thereof. Yet, the speculation increases by the day. When asked for comment for this piece, Gunn did not respond.

Now the question is: What will even the speculation of a gubernatorial “loser leave town” primary between Gunn and Reeves do to the political dynamics over the last two legislative sessions of this term?

Read more: https://yallpolitics.com/2021/06/25/corder-will-rumors-of-gunn-gubernatorial-run-change-ms-house-dynamics-for-next-two-years/

June 29, 2021

Alabama teacher resigns after homophobic, racist slurs caught on video

A Conecuh County teacher resigned Friday after a video surfaced of her using homophobic, racist and ableist slurs.

The Southside Preparatory Magnet Academy teacher and coach, Olivia Stephens-Squires, is shown in videos engaging in heated arguments with her child’s father, throwing objects at him and calling him offensive names.

Stephens-Squires appeared before the Conecuh County Board of Education with an audience of upset parents and resigned five minutes into the special called meeting, WPMI reports. The board said that she requested resignation before a decision on punishment could be decided.

Parents of students at the school were putting pressure on the county Board of Education and superintendent to take action against the teacher prior to the resignation.

Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2021/06/alabama-teacher-resigns-after-homophobic-racist-slurs-caught-on-video.html

June 29, 2021

Rep. Will Dismukes indicted on felony theft charge

Alabama state Rep. Will Dismukes, R-Pratville, on Tuesday was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury and charged with felony theft.

Dismukes is charged with first-degree theft of property, a Class B felony, according to court records. The theft allegedly occurred at Dismukes’ former place of employment, Weiss Commercial Flooring Inc., between the years 2016 and 2018, according to court records.

The indictment states that Dismukes is charged with stealing more than $2,500 in flooring and construction materials.

“I will tell you that the alleged amount is a lot more than that,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey in a press briefing in August after an arrest warrant had been issued for Dismukes.

Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2021/06/25/rep-will-dismukes-indicted-on-felony-theft-charge/
(Alabama Political Reporter)