Good Morning Showdown: ABC vs. Amy and T.J.
Today's the day suspended "GMA3" lovers Robach and Holmes faceoff with network brass and their respective lawyers. Plus: Chat GPT defines a woman, and it turns out Gen Z is the queerest generation
Thanks for rising up early on this Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Welcome to all my new subscribers and to everyone just stopping by to see what’s what!
Here Now The News
U.S. AND GERMANY AGREE TO SEND TANKS TO UKRAINE: It’s an about-face for President Biden, the Pentagon and Germany, but they reached an agreement to send 14 Leopard tanks and 31 M1 Abrams tanks, although the American vehicles are not expected to arrive in Kiev for months. — CNN
WHY THIS IS A WATERSHED MOMENT IN WAR AGAINST RUSSIA: The Guardian
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, UKRAINE! The war-torn nation declared its independence from Russia on this date in 1918. On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched its current invasion.
THE PENCE PAPERS: CNN reports about a dozen classified documents found at the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence included materials described as background briefing memos for Pence’s foreign trips. A source speculates the papers may have been overlooked because they were tucked into old trip binders.
BIDEN DOCUDRAMA, DAY 17: Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) says he will slow down House confirmation of all of President Joe Biden’s nominees until Congress is allowed to review the classified documents found at the residences of Biden and former President Donald Trump. — Politico
Politicukoos
DONALD TRUMP ISSUES STATEMENT FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT OF REINSTATEMENT TO FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM: — Fox News
TRUMP WELCOMES LIBS OF TIKTOK WOMAN TO MAR-A-LAGO: — The Daily Beast
SHE’S A TROLL: During an interview with a podcast this week, transphobe Chaya Raichik, the founder of Libs of TikTok said: “The people in the videos I post are suffering from mental illness.” She vowed “to call them out when I see it because we need to protect the innocence of children.” — Media Matters
REP. GEORGE SANTOS ANNOUNCES NEW TREASURER: And then the guy he named says, “Nope! Not me!” You really can’t make this stuff up! — NYT
TEACH OR WE’LL SUE: Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is threatening to sue Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) over his administration’s decision to reject an Advanced Placement course in African American studies. — Politico
OMG News
OUTRAGEOUS: An attorney for the first-grade teacher shot and wounded on Jan. 6 in Newport News, Va., revealed school administrators had been warned at least four times that a 6-year-old student might be armed, but "failed to act." Abby Zwerner is suing the school. — CBS News
HEADS ARE ROLLING IN NEWPORT NEWS: The assistant principal of Richneck Elementary resigned Wednesday and the school board voted 5-1 to fire the superintendent. — CNN
Report: Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes to meet with Disney/ABC Today
MEDIA-TION: People Magazine has some unique insights, but I’m going to rely on TMZ to tell you what’s expected to happen today at what the site reports will be a mediation session between ABC News brass and suspended GMA3 co-hosts Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes. Last month, they were pulled off the air following tabloid reports that they were cheating on their spouses in a torrid affair.
Robach, Holmes and their lawyers will be meeting with ABC management and their Disney/ABC lawyers on Zoom. Disney is ABC’s parent company.
Lawyers for the co-anchors called for the mediation, and ABC’s lawyers agreed.
TMZ’s sources say ABC has ruled out bringing back the co-anchors to work as a team on the same set.
It’s not clear if either or both face termination. Both are still employed.
TMZ says Robach and Holmes are approaching this as a team, with neither anchor willing to accept a lighter punishment, if any, than the other.
Andrew Brettler, representing Robach, and Eric George, representing Holmes reportedly have been working closely together.
Sources tell TMZ race "will become an issue" at the mediation if Holmes, who is Black, is disciplined or fired — especially if the punishment has no precedent with similarly situated white employees.
The mediators' recommendations will not be binding, says TMZ.
INSIDER INSIGHT: My experience with these kinds of negotiations is that the company will swiftly lay the groundwork for dismissal, having prepared documentation, those tabloid reports and even witness testimony to show that Robach and Holmes have embarrassed the family-friendly Disney company with their secret affair, potentially violating a morals clause that is almost certainly contained in their contracts. But the big question is how will the co-anchors respond to that hard evidence and whether Disney/ABC sees any solution that won’t land them in court and won’t trigger more headlines. STAY TUNED!
Biz News
NEWSMAX OFFICIALLY DROPPED BY DIRECTV: — The Daily Beast
DOT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO SOUTHWEST MELTDOWN: A spokesperson for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tells RiseUP: “The Department will hold Southwest Airlines accountable, including pursuing fines against the carrier if there is evidence that the carrier has failed to meet its legal obligations.” More in the Wall Street Journal
CONNECTICUT ESSENTIAL WORKERS TO RECEIVE “HERO PAY.” — WTNH-TV
RISEUPDATE: Tesla beat predictions on Wall Street with record revenue and a better than expected earnings report. — CNBC
Thumbs Down for Yelp: Restaurants So White
TOP 100 OF 2022 IS ACTUALLY 95 WHITE-OWNED BUSINESSES: The Root is calling out Yelp for its Best Restaurants of 2022 list, which has only five Black-owned restaurants. They are:
#9 Selam Ethiopian & Eritrean Cuisine: serving traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean dishes in Orlando
#16 Crumbville: a bakery located in Houston
#17 Ekiben: a popular Asian fusion restaurant in Baltimore
#24 Zenaida’s Café: a comfort food destination in Las Vegas
#28 Baobab Fare: an East African restaurant in Detroit
Do better, Yelp!
LGBTQ Review
POPE SAYS BEING GAY IS NOT A CRIME: As RiseUP subscribers learned yesterday, Pope Francis told the Associated Press the nations of the world must stop criminalizing homosexuality. — A.P.
GEN Z: THE QUEEREST GENERATION: According to the latest census of England and Wales by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics, people in the 16-24 age group had the highest proportion of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Of the group, 6.91%, or 436,000, said they were lesbian, gay or bi. That’s more than twice the percentage of the overall population. — Pink News
Around 1.5 million people (3.2%) identified themselves as LGB+
43.4 million people (89.4%) identified as straight or heterosexual.
A total of 748,000 described themselves as gay or lesbian
624,000 described themselves as bisexual
More than 260,000 people identified themselves as transgender
165,000 selected “other sexual orientation”
CONGRATULATIONS TO ANTHONY RAPP! The actor celebrated opening night of his one-man Off-Broadway musical, Without You, with his husband and co-daddy Ken Ithiphol in the audience. ICYMI: They have a baby boy, Rai, who turned one month old on Jan. 2. — People
My daughter and I attended the first preview performance earlier this month and we loved the show. I strongly recommend seeing it before its run ends in April! Click here for info and tickets.
Trans World
J.K. ROWLING IS ON A ROLL THIS WEEK: The Harry Potter novelist’s latest tweet is aimed at men who are “defining what a woman is.” Is she talking about Matt Walsh and his film, “What Is A Woman?” — Fox News
SOMEONE ASKED CHAT GPT “WHAT IS A WOMAN:” According to science20.com, the answer provided by the artificial intelligent software was not surprising: “adult human female,” and so on. But take a look at what Chat GPT said when asked, “Can a transgender woman, born with XY chromosomes, satisfy the definition of the word ‘woman?’”
“…It is important to note that gender identity is a complex and multi-faceted concept that goes beyond biology, neurology, genetics, sociology, and psychology.
“For a transgender woman, her gender identity is that of a woman despite being assigned male at birth and having XY chromosomes. Therefore, a transgender woman can self-identify as a woman, and be considered as such by others, regardless of her biology and physical characteristics. It's important to respect and acknowledge the self-identified gender of a person.”
The A.I. is repeatedly challenged, but never wavers from the truth, which is that Trans Women Are Women. Click here for more!
Thanks for rising up on this Thursday! I’m off tomorrow and Saturday but check back in Sunday night for my Bedtime Stories! Until then, may your news be good news!
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