Troops based at the Kadena Air Base in Japan know how to party. On Saturday, six gay and straight service members applied some of their finest makeup and lip synced to "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" in what is believed to be first drag queen and king show on an American military base. The show was thrown in support for the base's recently formed OutServe-SLDN chapter, a nonprofit advocacy group for the army's LGBT community.
Navy Lt. Marissa Greene told Stars and Stripes she only expected to sell 75 tickets for the variety show, but ended up selling more than 400 in ten days. The event went through the same approval process as other on-base fundraisers go through, with the only caveat being that it was not allowed to be labeled a "drag show" in its publicity materials. The show was warmly received by spectators, who rocked out to performances by the likes of Manny Nuff and Chocolate Sunrise ("a crowd favorite," the website notes.)
Just a few years ago, performances like these would have been grounds for a possible discharge. The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell has made it possible for events like this to occur. --Jordan Valinsky
The new Glider SS18 "looks like something that would transport a James Bond villain to a secret lair," says Chris Kitching at the Daily Mail, but it just might "revolutionize sea travel for Champagne-swigging tycoons." The futuristic catamaran, made by London-based Glider Yachts, stands 10 feet above the water on twin 60-foot hulls, and its four 270-hp engines push the vessel to speeds exceeding 56 knots (65 mph). A Hyper Sports edition will be able to touch 96 knots, and thanks to a stability control system that helps the Glider skate atop the chop, you can quaff your Dom Perignon even at highway speeds while sharing the Corbeau leather seats with four other passengers. This bad boy could be yours for the cool price of $1.3 million — learn more here.
It sounds like it's time to throw out the antibacterial soap in your house. The Food and Drug Administration is banning 19 chemicals commonly found in such products, including triclosan and triclocarban, due to potentially harmful side effects. "If the product makes antibacterial claims, chances are pretty good it contains one of these ingredients," Theresa Michele, the FDA's director of the Division of Nonprescription Drug Products, told reporters.
Evidence suggests that the chemicals used in antibacterial soaps can alter hormone cycles and cause muscle weakness, NPR reports. Triclosan also kills good bacteria and could help create germs that are resistant to antibiotics; the chemical has been known to contaminate streams and has been found in human milk and dolphin's blood, according to Vitals.
While antibacterial soap is often marketed as being more effective than soap and water, experts say that it actually isn't. Washing your hands with regular soap (if you do it the right way) is just fine.
Hospitals and the food industry can still use antibacterial soap, but otherwise, companies have until September 2017 to rid their products of the banned chemicals or remove those products from the market altogether. Jeva Lange
An Arizona high school student was told that she couldn't wear a Black Lives Matter T-shirt because it was "disruptive," The Washington Post reports. Mariah Havard, 15, was sent to the principal's office and given a blank white T-shirt to wear instead. "A white T-shirt that's meaningless has nothing to do with what I'm standing for," Havard said. Buckeye Union High School officials said her shirt posed "a potential danger to students."
Havard claims she was the target of incendiary comments from white students while wearing the shirt, including "that shirt is meaningless" and "black lives don't matter."
In response to the ordeal, several students walked out of classes Monday morning and protested outside the school with help from local civil rights organizations, a USA Today affiliate reports. The district's superintendent later issued an apology letter to Havard: "I want to apologize for any embarrassment or uncomfortableness regarding the district's attempted enforcement of the school dress code policy," he wrote. "Sometimes there are important messages, such as 'Black Lives Matter,' that represent both emotional and complicated issues that, without proper understanding and context, create misunderstanding, division and disruption."
He called the incident a "unifying moment" for the school and promised to review the dress code, and he even asked Havard to help the staff develop programs to address the school's race-related issues. Havard, for her part, seemed pleased with the response.
Eric Trump is baffled that his father's Hispanic supporters reacted so negatively to the hard-line immigration speech the candidate gave in Arizona on Wednesday, vowing to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and create a deportation task force. Ahead of his speech, GOP nominee Donald Trump had met with members of his Hispanic Advisory Council and allegedly promised to offer a softened stance on deportation, as well as humane and realistic solutions.
While many of Trump's Hispanic supporters backed off supporting him because they said he did not deliver on his promises, son Eric thought his dad's speech was right in line with what he's been saying all along. In an interview with Fox & Friends on Friday, Eric said the defections from Trump's Hispanic Advisory Council were "actually pretty amazing considering the speech ... was actually very consistent, and has been very, very consistent with his plan."
Since Trump delivered his speech Wednesday night, four people have resigned from his council. Watch his son Eric's full comments, below. Becca Stanek
The FBI released documents Friday from its early July interview with Hillary Clinton on her use of a private email server in response to multiple requests by media organizations under the Freedom of Information Act. The interview had been meant to "fill the gaps" on why Clinton decided to use the private server, a senior law enforcement official said.
The documents contain sections that have been redacted to protect information. Clinton was not under oath during the three-hour interview, of which there is no transcript, just an 11-page summary. There are 58 pages of documents in all.
One section of the documents revealed that "when asked about the email chain containing '(C)' portion markings that the State determined to currently contain confidential information, Clinton stated she did not know what the '(C)' meant at the beginning of the paragraphs and speculated it was referring to paragraphs marked in alphabetical order." The FBI investigation also revealed Clinton used 13 mobile phones during her four years serving as secretary of state: "Clinton usually carried a flip phone along with her BlackBerry because it was more comfortable for communication and Clinton was able to use her BlackBerry while talking on the flip phone."
There are also hints that Clinton was aware of the trouble with using a private email server in office. "On Jan. 23, 2009, Clinton contacted former Secretary of State Colin Powell via email to inquire about his use of BlackBerry while secretary of state … in his email reply, Powell warned Clinton that if it became 'public' that Clinton had a BlackBerry, and she used it to 'do business,' her emails could become 'official record[s] and subject to the law.' Powell further advised Clinton to 'be very careful,'" the documents said. Later, in 2011, Clinton warned all State employees in an email to "avoid conducting State business from personal email accounts due to information security concerns."
FBI Director James Comey said in July that there was not enough evidence that Clinton criminally mishandled classified information with her use of the private server, but he did call her conduct "extremely careless." Jeva Lange
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is going to be a little late for her speech at Capital University on Friday because instead of flying to Columbus, Ohio, she accidentally flew to Cincinnati.
The cities — both of which start with the letter "C," to be fair — are about 107 miles apart by car.
"Things happen," Capital University Greens Student Organization president Aaron Suarez told the Columbus Dispatch. Suarez added that Stein was on the road and would be two hours late. There are about 100 people waiting on the campus' Schaaf Lawn to hear her speak; they have reportedly ordered pizza.
Green Party presidential candidate's Capital U speech delayed as she flies to wrong city https://t.co/iITw2KdJf2 pic.twitter.com/i66MBZdnZu
— Randy Ludlow (@RandyLudlow) September 2, 2016
RealClearPolitics puts Stein at about 3 percent nationally, behind the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, who is polling at about 7.8 percent. It is "unclear how and why [Stein] flew into the wrong airport," the Columbus Dispatch reports. Jeva Lange
Actress Gabrielle Union's role as a sexual assault victim in the upcoming film Birth of a Nation hit particularly close to home for her. Union admitted last February that she was raped at gunpoint at the age of 19.
But, she acknowledged in a moving essay published Friday in the Los Angeles Times, she isn't the film's only star with personal ties to the matter. After Union signed onto the film, allegations about Nate Parker, the movie's director and star, resurfaced. Parker was charged with rape in 1999, but then acquitted in 2001; the alleged victim committed suicide in 2012.
As much as that revelation pushed Union into what she described as a "state of stomach-churning confusion," she maintains that the film, and its message, are still significant:
Regardless of what I think may have happened that night 17 years ago, after reading all 700 pages of the trial transcript, I still don't actually know. Nor does anyone who was not in that room. But I believe that the film is an opportunity to inform and educate so that these situations cease to occur on college campuses, in dorm rooms, in fraternities, in apartments, or anywhere else young people get together to socialize.
I took this part in this film to talk about sexual violence. To talk about this stain that lives on in our psyches. I know these conversations are uncomfortable and difficult and painful. But they are necessary. Addressing misogyny, toxic masculinity, and rape culture is necessary. Addressing what should and should not be deemed consent is necessary. [Los Angeles Times]
Still, Union wrote, as "important and ground-breaking as this film is, I cannot take these allegations lightly."
The film, about 19th-century slave and preacher Nat Turner, comes out Oct. 7. You can read Union's full essay at the Los Angeles Times. Becca Stanek