Efforts by Major League Baseball teams to promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity during Pride Month haven't been embraced with open arms by some of its rank-and-file players ... read more
Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi, musicians Ehsan Beiraqdar and Soheil Faqih Nasiri, and six members of the production team for the Caravanserai Concert were ordered to be lashed 74 times by the Qom Provincial Criminal Court, Iranian human-rights groups and diaspora media outlets reported Thursday. The artists will also face a two-year travel ban and a two-year restriction on all artistic activity. The court ruled they had offended "public decency through the production and publication of obscene and immoral content on cyberspace platforms." The artists and their team were first arrested after their performance was broadcast on YouTube last December. They were ordered to appear before the Prosecutor's Office for Moral Security in January.
Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George is slated to be the next mayor of Washington DC after her opponent conceded on Thursday. Lewis George, a city council member, ran on a platform of expanding childcare, education and housing, and revoking the district's cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. In the city's first ranked-choice voting election, she succeeded in securing the Democratic nomination in a party stronghold, fending off another former city council member, Kenyan McDuffie. McDuffie had run a campaign more focused on public safety and local businesses. Now, Lewis George will be on the ballot in November's general election, where she will probably run unopposed.
A hearing in Luigi Mangione's state murder trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was postponed until Wednesday after prosecutors said they failed to inform his jailors that he was needed in court. read more
JD Vance's appearance on The View is raising eyebrows -- but not for his heated political debate with Ana Navarro or his admitting to being a "conspiracy theorist" about the Epstein files. Instead, people who tuned into the ABC daytime talk show episode Tuesday to see the vice president discuss his new book, Communion, were shocked by his bold TV makeup. Vance, 41, came on the show appearing to wear eyeliner -- which his wife, Usha Vance, has said in the past is not makeup, but actually his thick eyelashes -- and a heavy amount of orange bronzer. read more
My personal interest was more along artistic lines.
Good to know about the JPost.