June 16, 2024

Sunday, June 16, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

Biden campaign says its raised over $28 million ahead of Hollywood fundraiser featuring Obama, dozens of celebrity supporters - CBS News.

Within 24 hours, President Biden went from the G7 Summit to George Clooney.

Mr. Biden left Italy late Friday night after a meeting with world leaders and arrived in Los Angeles early Saturday morning ahead of a star-studded evening fundraiser with former President Barack Obama, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Clooney and actress Julia Roberts.

The Biden-Harris campaign says they've already raised $28 million going into Saturday night's event, a record sum for a single Democratic fundraiser. It also eclipses the $26 million the Biden campaign raised from a March fundraiser in New York City with Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton. 

Saturday's star-studded affair will feature a moderated interview of Biden and Obama by Kimmel that is expected to be focused on health care. Kimmel has been a public advocate of the Affordable Care Act, passed by Obama and Biden, after his newborn son had open-heart surgery in 2017.

Clooney and Roberts will serve as hosts of Saturday's event. Appearances from actors Jason Bateman, Jack Black, Kathryn Hahn and Sheryl Lee Ralph are also expected, along with an undisclosed musical guest.

Other celebrities, such as Keegan-Michael Key, Connie Britton, Misha Collins, Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Del Arco, Mandana Dayani, Blake Cooper Griffin and Adam Met, will be in attendance, according to the Biden campaign.

Prices for tickets at Saturday's event ranged from $250 to $500,000, though grassroots donors could chip in $20 to watch the fundraiser virtually. (CBS News)

Those Biden ads keep coming.

Touch to watch.👇

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Jill is always busy.

Touch to watch.👇

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Kamala is always busy.

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Democrats seize an opportunity that is too good to resist.

Exclusive: DNC launching billboards hitting Trump over Milwaukee comments.

The Democratic National Committee is launching billboards in 10 locations across Milwaukee on Friday featuring former President Trump's reported diss of the city that's the site of the Republican National Convention next month. (Axios)

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Trump unfit viewing time.

These videos below 👇 are shocking. Touch to watch each video.

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A summary of Trump’s condition.👇

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Juneteenth is soon with us.

Something to smile about for now.

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So much pain for the right to love.

A Retired Army Colonel’s Obituary Shares a Secret: ‘I Was Gay All My Life.’

Edward Thomas Ryan, who died at 85, wrote that he was “afraid of being ostracized.” The revelation set off a wave of online tributes.

At first glance, Edward Thomas Ryan’s obituary, published in The Times Union of Albany, N.Y., seemed fairly straightforward.

It listed his survivors, including many nieces and nephews. It detailed his Army service in Vietnam. That he was a retired firefighter in his hometown, Rensselaer, N.Y. And that he was a co-founder of an Albany-based radio station.

But the end of his obituary, which ran on June 8, included a personal note from Mr. Ryan, who died on June 1 at 85 years old.

“I must tell you one more thing,” the obituary reads. “I was Gay all my life: thru grade school, thru High School, thru College, thru Life.”

Mr. Ryan went on to say that he had been in a “loving and caring relationship” with a man for 25 years. That man died in 1994, and the note said that Mr. Ryan would be buried next to him.

“I’m sorry for not having the courage to come out as Gay,” Mr. Ryan wrote. “I was afraid of being ostracized: by Family, Friends, and Co-Workers. Seeing how people like me were treated, I just could not do it.”

The revelation in the obituary set off a wave of online tributes to Mr. Ryan, and came as a surprise to some of his family and friends.

“Thank you Edward Ryan for fighting for our freedoms while you yourself did not feel free,” one comment on the obituary page reads. Another said: “He thought he was not brave enough. His military record and other accomplishments speak for themselves. I’m glad he was able to find happiness with someone who loved him.”

Mr. Ryan showed Linda Sargent, his niece, and Edward Sargent, Linda’s husband, the obituary a month before he died, as he was consulting them about end-of-life care. Mr. Sargent said the cause of death was heart failure.

That Mr. Ryan revealed himself to be gay was not a surprise to the Sargents. In the past, Mr. Ryan had mentioned a “soul mate” of 25 years to them, though Mr. Ryan, an intensely private man, never offered further details.

“Linda and I knew, you know what I mean?” Mr. Sargent said in an interview. “We never sat down and talked about it prior to that because my uncle was a private person. So we never broke that boundary. We knew, but we didn’t say anything.”

Upon finding out for certain, Mr. Sargent said, he urged Mr. Ryan to come out before he died.

“I felt that it would have empowered him,” Mr. Sargent said. “And gave him that freedom and made his life whole and complete. All he did his whole life practically was to serve his community.”

Another one of Mr. Ryan’s nieces, Kelly Blue, said that she was unaware of what the obituary would say before it was published.

“I’m happy that he did it,” Ms. Blue said. “Now he can rest in peace. He got it out.”

Born in 1938, Mr. Ryan came of age in an era when gay people faced frequent discrimination and often lived in the shadows. A former colonel in the Army, Mr. Ryan would not have been able to live publicly as a gay man without repercussions. In 1993, President Bill Clinton instituted the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — considered a compromise at the time — which allowed gay men and women to serve in the military provided they did not publicly reveal their sexual orientation. President Barack Obama repealed the policy in 2010.

”I feel that he didn’t tell anybody because he thought people were going to judge him,” Ms. Blue said. “And years ago, you didn’t talk about that stuff.”

Mr. Ryan was a man of many skills, aside from being a decorated soldier. According to his obituary, he was a chef at the local American Legion post. He received a citation from the State of New York for volunteering to cook for emergency workers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Sargent said.

After leaving the military, Mr. Ryan was a firefighter for almost three decades until he retired in 1992. He was affectionately known as “Uncle Ed.”

“He interacted with everybody in the community,” William Brooking, the Rensselaer fire chief, said. “He was always happy. Always smiling. Just a down to earth guy that would help anybody through anything that was needed.”

Mr. Brooking, a close friend of Mr. Ryan, said that Mr. Ryan’s sexuality was something long assumed by his family and friends, but that Mr. Ryan never discussed it because “of the era that he came up in.”

“I definitely am not a fan of him not being able to live the life that he wanted to live,” Mr. Brooking said. “Me personally, I have approximately five gay family members myself. One being my daughter, who is married to another woman. To me, I understand it. I have no judgment of it. And I feel as though everybody should be able to live like my daughter lives now.”

The last line of Mr. Ryan’s obituary is perhaps the most poignant: “Now that my secret is known, I’ll forever Rest in Peace.” (New York Times).

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Your daily reminder.

Trump is a convicted felon.

On May 30th, he was found guilty on 34 felony counts by the unanimous vote of 12 ordinary citizens.

He will be sentenced on July 11.

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Happy Tony Night.

Early voting in the Primary started in New York yesterday and runs through June 23.

Plan to see a show. Also to vote.

See you on Tuesday.

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