Lonnie

Andrew Sullivan's new column at substack explains how it happened through his perspective. He lives there. Let It Rip How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Live With The Virus Andrew Sullivan 20 hr ago 40 Brent Thomas, dressed as the historic figure Anne Hutchinson, leads a tour through Provincetown on July 24, 2021. Thomas said they limit their tour to 10 people and ask people to practice pandemic protocol. This group confirmed they had all been vaccinated. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) It started with a text. Hey Sully — I started feeling cold symptoms a couple of days ago and didn’t think that much of it but then found out a house of SF guys we were out dancing Fri-Sat-Sun tested Covid-positive despite vaccination. Started with sore throat, cough, etc which is what I have. Most of another house too I know have similar symptoms (and perhaps half of town from last week at this point). Anyway I went to the clinic this morning and I’m positive. Still have some smell and taste, feel just kinda cruddy But I don’t think a fever. He asked me to be on call if he needed something. A day later, he wrote, “Felt cruddy last night — chills, a little sweats, but slept 10 - 11 hours and slightly better so far today.” Symptoms lasted about a week, and we texted until I bumped into him as we were both walking our dogs on the beach. He seemed fine. Then I spotted an old friend near some distant tidal pools, began to walk toward him to say hi, and he waved me away for the same reason: he was sick. The next day, I spotted my next-door neighbor, wearing a neck gaiter alone on the beach, and I was about to tease him but saw the look in his eyes. Another one. Then three texts from health agencies in DC and Ptown telling me I may have been exposed. I’ve had no symptoms, so I haven’t gotten tested. But I’m a little bit happier I decided to get a Pfizer shot after my J&J. Is Provincetown our future? Count me skeptical. In Fourth of July week, the town was completely swamped this year, followed swiftly by Bear Week; lines for the bars lasted for blocks; the bars themselves were packed; the weather was dreadful, forcing most of the crowd to pack tightly inside. A tiny town built for a few thousand residents has to absorb up to 40,000 in peak season. One bar in particular — the home for a dance party with the inspired name of “Fag Bash” — resembles a kind of dank dungeon where sweat drips from the ceiling and mold reaches up the walls. It might have been designed for viral transmission. A big swathe of the crowd had also just come from a week of Pride partying in New York City and were likely not, shall we say, at their immunological best. It was a muggy, viral heaven in a classic post-plague burst of bacchanalia. I’m way too old for that kind of thing these days, and don’t like crowds, and so stayed away, finishing the audio version of my forthcoming essay collection. Good call, it turns out. But would I have gone if I’d had the energy? You bet I would have. Maybe not into the crammed basements, but I had a blast at the open-air tea-dance the same week and since. And why not? I’m double-vaccinated. The chances of becoming sick enough to be hospitalized are extremely small; the chance of death, none at all. My friend who first texted me is super-fit (as are most of the young torsos who show up that week), but he’s also my age (weirdly enough, he’s the same friend I went to stay with when I first tested HIV-positive in 1993). He endured a nasty week of a fluish bug: the kind of thing that happens without any plague at all. Just part of the inherent risks of being human on a planet that does not belong exclusively to us. And this seems to me to be the key question here: do we really want to get back to living? I do. So take the rational precautions — a solid vaccine — and go about your business as you always did. Yes, I’ll wear a mask indoors if I’m legally required or politely asked. But I don’t really see why anyone should. In a free society, once everyone has access to a vaccine that overwhelmingly prevents serious sickness and death, there is no reason to enforce lockdowns again, or mask mandates, or social distancing any longer. In fact, there’s every reason not to. We are at a stage in this pandemic when we are trying to persuade the hold-outs — disproportionately white Republicans/evangelicals and urban African-Americans — to get vaccinated. How do we best do this? Endless, condescending nagging won’t help. Coercion is not an option in a free country. Since the vaccinated appear to be able to transmit the virus as well, vaccine passports lose their power to remove all risk. Forcing all the responsible people to go back to constraining their everyday lives for the sake of the vaccine-averse is both unfair and actually weakens the incentive to get a vaccine, because it lowers the general risk of getting it in the broader society. So the obviously correct public policy is to let mounting sickness and rising deaths concentrate the minds of the recalcitrant. Let reality persuade the delusional and deranged. It has a pretty solid record of doing just that. The government cannot be held responsible for sickness and death it has already provided the means to avoid. People are responsible for their own lives. The government can do some things — like making vaccination mandatory for federal workers and contractors, and especially in the military as George Washington did in the Revolutionary War for smallpox. It could offer money — or entry into a lottery, as many states are doing. All good. But the most potent incentive for vaccination is, to be brutally frank, a sharp rise in mortality rates. The more people who know someone who has suffered and died the likelier they will see the logic of taking measures to avoid the same fate. In other words: if people recklessly refuse to face reality, call their bluff. Sullivan's column continues here: https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/let-it-rip-f9c

So much for that as the general heads for the exit. ☠️

Sorry, my sloppy language use obviously hid what I meant in as far as Communist China is concerned...they talk this big world game but more than likely they back the junta...as they continue to persecute millions of Uygurs and destroy what's left free Tibet. Long live the ROC! It was more of a facetious challenge.

Please tell us if he does and gets a place to stay...what a dilemma to be in.

More detail from The Advocate: She had no intention of coming out to Bryant, but she was spurred to do so on her 21st birthday. Bryant sang “Happy Birthday” to her granddaughter on the phone and told her that if she had faith, the right man would come along. “And I just snapped and was like, ‘I hope that he doesn’t come along, because I’m gay, and I don’t want a man to come along,’” Green recalls. Bryant responded by telling Green that homosexuality is a delusion invented by the devil and that her granddaughter should focus on loving God, because that would make her realize she’s straight. “It’s very hard to argue with someone who thinks that an integral part of your identity is just an evil delusion,” Green says. Now, years later, Green is planning her wedding and is debating whether to invite Bryant; she and her fiancée have discussed it extensively. “I think I probably will eventually just call her and ask if she even wants an invitation, because I genuinely do not know how she would respond,” Green says. “I don’t know if she would be offended if I didn’t invite her.” Bryant knows Sarah is engaged to a woman, said Robert Green Jr., Sarah Green’s father and Bryant’s son, says on the podcast. When he told his mother, he notes, “All at once, her eyes widened, her smile opened, and out came the oddest sound: ‘Oh.’ Instead of taking Sarah as she is, my mom has chosen to pray that Sarah will eventually conform to my mom’s idea of what God wants Sarah to be.” Sarah Green says she doesn’t hate Bryant but feels sorry for her. “I just kind of feel bad for her,” she says. “And I think as much as she hopes that I will figure things out and come back to God, I kind of hope that she’ll figure things out.” Slate sought an interview with Bryant, but she declined. A variety of people involved in the fight over the ordinance are interviewed in the episode, including Bob Kunst, a Miami gay activist who thinks the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement is ungrateful to him and who became a supporter of Donald Trump. The podcast can be accessed here, and a transcript will be posted soon.

Poor Burma...from bad to unimaginable horror...where's China in all this mess? They want to lead the world here's your chance! Junta forces have engaged in at least 260 attacks against medical personnel and facilities, killing at least 18 people, according to the Office of the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. The military is holding at least 67 healthcare workers, and has issued arrest warrants for a further 600 medics. Last week, military officials reportedly posed as Covid patients in need of treatment to entrap medical volunteers in Yangon. Three doctors who went to help were subsequently arrested, according to a report by the independent outlet Myanmar Now. In total, at least 5,630 people are being held in detention facilities, including Insein prison in Yangon, where the virus has spread. U Nyan Win, who previously served as Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, and who was a senior member in her National League for Democracy party, died of Covid after becoming infected in jail, it was confirmed last week. At least 931 people – protesters, politicians and bystanders – have been killed by the military since February. There is significant evidence that crimes against humanity are unfolding in Myanmar, Andrews said. “This is not an errant commander here or there doing horrible things, this is very systematic, very clear … The junta going on state television and telling people don’t go on the streets [to protest] or you’ll get shot in the head. And then suddenly all these people are shot in the head.” Andrews said the need for international action was more urgent than ever. “The people of Myanmar are losing hope that the international community cares about what is happening in Myanmar,” he said.

😢 So sad...everything is changing and not for the better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_BryantAnti-gay rights activism Bryant is known for her anti-gay rights activism.[15] On March 23, 1969, Bryant participated in a Rally for Decency at the Orange Bowl to protest an incident involving Jim Morrison and The Doors'[16][17] performance in Miami, Florida in 1969. Fundraising card for the Save Our Children campaign In 1977, Dade County, Florida, passed an ordinance sponsored by Bryant's former friend Ruth Shack that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[18] Bryant led a highly publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance, as the leader of a coalition named Save Our Children. The campaign was based on conservative Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation. Bryant stated:[19] What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. [...] I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before. The campaign marked the beginning of an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation. Jerry Falwell Sr. went to Miami to help Bryant. She made the following statements during the campaign: "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children" and "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters."[19] She also said, "All America and all the world will hear what the people have said, and with God's continued help we will prevail in our fight to repeal similar laws throughout the nation."[18] Notably, Bryant referred to gay people as "human garbage".[20][21][22] The name of the campaign had to be changed because of legal action by the Save the Children foundation.[23] Victory and defeat An anti-Bryant campaign button in support of a boycott of the Save Our Children campaign for which she served as spokesperson On June 7, 1977, Bryant's campaign led to a repeal of the anti-discrimination ordinance by a margin of 69 to 31 percent. However, the success of Bryant's campaign galvanized her opponents, and the gay community retaliated against her by organizing a boycott of orange juice.[19] Gay bars all over North America stopped serving screwdrivers[24] and replaced them with the "Anita Bryant Cocktail", which was made with vodka and apple juice.[25] Sales and proceeds went to gay rights activists to help fund their fight against Bryant and her campaign.[25] In 1977, Florida legislators approved a measure prohibiting gay adoption.[19] The ban was overturned more than 30 years later when, on November 25, 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cindy S. Lederman declared it unconstitutional.[26] Bryant led several more campaigns around the country to repeal local anti-discrimination ordinances, including campaigns in St. Paul, Minnesota; Wichita, Kansas; and Eugene, Oregon. In 1978, her success led to the Briggs Initiative in California, which would have made pro-gay statements regarding homosexual people or homosexuality by any public school employee cause for dismissal.[19] Grassroots liberal organizations, chiefly in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, organized to defeat the initiative. Days before the election, the California Democratic Party opposed the proposed legislation. President Jimmy Carter, Governor Jerry Brown, former president Gerald Ford, and former governor Ronald Reagan—then planning a run for the presidency—all voiced opposition to the initiative, and it ultimately suffered a massive defeat at the polls.[25] In 1998, Dade County repudiated Bryant's successful campaign of 20 years earlier and reauthorized an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by a seven-to-six vote. In 2002, a ballot initiative to repeal the 1998 law, called Amendment 14, was voted down by 56 percent of the voters.[25] The Florida statute forbidding gay adoption was upheld in 2004 by a federal appellate court against a constitutional challenge but was overturned by a Miami-Dade circuit court in November 2008.[26] Bryant became one of the first persons to be publicly "pied" as a political act. During a television appearance in Iowa on October 14, 1977, Bryant was struck by a pie thrown at her by Thom L. Higgins (1950–1994).[27][28] Bryant quipped "At least it's a fruit pie,"[29] making a pun on the derogatory slur of "fruit" for a gay man. While covered in pie, she began to pray to God to forgive the activist "for his deviant lifestyle" before bursting into tears as the cameras continued rolling. Bryant's husband said that he would not retaliate, but followed the protesters outside and threw a pie at them.[25] By this time, gay activists ensured that the boycott on Florida orange juice had become more prominent and it was supported by many celebrities, including Paul Williams,[30] Vincent Price (he joked in a television interview that Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance referred to her),[31] and Jane Fonda.[25][page needed] Johnny Carson also made Bryant a regular target of ridicule in his nightly monologues.[32] In 1978, Bryant and Bob Green told the story of their campaign in the book At Any Cost.[19] The gay community continued to regard Bryant's name as synonymous with bigotry and homophobia.[25][33]

Great cast...looks very well made...hopefully does justice to the Herbert novel. 2119791287_DuneMainTrailer.mp4

Fantastic!

I'll watch on your recommendation. Thanks Grasshopper.

Reading on they don't seem to go into the cause of his death...I believe it was by erotic asphyxiation.

The dress found in the Hartke building shared those characteristics, the university said, and LIntelman and two colleagues who had viewed it said the “evidence around the dress was strong.” In 2015, another of Dorothy’s dresses sold for $1,565,000 at a New York auction. – Catholic University of America, Here was a rare piece of Tinseltown memorabilia, a farm girl’s blue gingham dress, one of several — though not many — worn by Judy Garland in her role as Dorothy Gale in the classic 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz.” It wasn’t quite the famed ruby slippers, but the garment was a fascinating artifact just the same. The Washington Post

Last Month The Judy Garland Wizard of Oz Dress Was Found at Catholic University: Details, Reactions, Roundup It was given to Rev. Gilbert Hartke, illustrious head of the drama programme, by actress Mercedes McCambridge. A dress worn by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ has finally been located. The legendary blue and white garment worn by the actress’ character Dorothy in the iconic 1939 film vanished just a year after it was gifted to the Catholic University of America (CUA) in 1972 but it was recently found by Matt Ripa, a lecturer at the university. He shared in a Catholic University press release: “I had looked in our archives, storage closets etc. to no avail. I assumed it was a tall tale. “I was curious what was inside and opened the trash bag and inside was a shoebox and inside the shoebox was the dress. I couldn’t believe it. “Needless to say, I have found my interesting things in the Hartke during my time at CUA, but I think this one takes the cake.” The university has confirmed that the dress will now be properly preserved. They added: “It can now be preserved in proper storage in a temperature – and humidity – controlled environment so that hopefully, for many more years, it can be a source of ‘hope, strength and courage’ for Catholic University students.” The university also wrote on Instagram: “In 1973, Catholic University’s @cuatower newspaper wrote about a gift to Catholic University meant to be a source of “hope, strength, and courage” to students. The gift was a dress that is believed to have been worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz. “It was given to Rev. Gilbert Hartke, illustrious head of the drama programme, by actress Mercedes McCambridge, who served as artist-in-residence at CatholicU in 1972. “For many years, it was rumoured that the dress was still located in Hartke, the building named after the priest, but no one knew exactly where. While preparing for some renovations last month, Matt Ripa, M.F.A. 2008, lecturer and operations coordinator for the @cua_drama in @cuamusicdramaart, rediscovered Dorothy’s Dress.”

Thanks again Mr. Lucky...I enjoyed the book thoroughly except for the ending...now on to the Bangkok series. Burdett is one of those authors you'd like to meet.

Some hot scenes with Lee Hunter here: https://www.gayforit.eu/video/283353/Vintage-Laguna-Adventures

I can't fathom why I've never seen this??? I had it on my list but never saw it... so on your recommendation of having watched it 10 to 12 times I'll download and see it soon...thanks.

Yes indeed...almost as bad as Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast At Tiffany's!

For those who missed this Matt Sterling classic: https://thisvid.com/videos/gay-porn-retro-tradewinds/

Wonderful choices,,,if this thread continues I'll catch up.

We'll share him Ax...okay?

Gone With The Wind 1939 Thanks to TCM for the trailer. 1259528814_GonewiththeWind(1939)OfficialTrailer-ClarkGableVivienLeighMovieHD.mp4

The Wizard Of Oz 1939 Sorry not the original trailer. 424416709_TheWizardOfOzIMAX3DOfficialTrailer1(2013)-JudyGarlandMovieHD.mp4

Oh my there are so many...let's start with the 1930's...so many wonderful movies I've seen at least 10 times it's hard to pick 3 but here goes: King Kong 1933 Trailer re-release 322840805_KingKong(1933)OfficialTrailer.mp4