April 18, 2023

Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Monday in the Senate.

Sen. John Fetterman returned to the Senate on Monday, two months after he checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center where he was treated for clinical depression.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) returned to the Senate floor Monday for the first time since suffering a concussion on March 8, declaring: “It’s good to be back.” 

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Monday in Northern Ireland.

Hillary moderated. The peacemakers in Ireland gathered.

Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern mark 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement. Touch 👇 to watch the conversation.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wd4NrgIQ1Y

Northern Ireland recognises 29 women who helped bring peace.

BELFAST, April 17 (Reuters) - Twenty-nine women from political and civic society were honoured on Monday at an event to mark 25 years of Northern Ireland's Good Friday Agreement that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said would not have been possible without them.

Clinton, the chancellor of Queen's University Belfast who in her time as Secretary of State worked with the political parties in implementing the deal, praised the recipients of medals and honorary degrees as "determined, unstoppable forces for peace".

They included the late Mo Mowlam - Britain's first female minister for the region who played a key role in the talks while being treated for a brain tumour - and the founders of Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, who formed their own political party in 1996 in order to participate in the peace negotiations.

"A quarter century of bloodshed and strife and millennia of embedded sexism had discouraged most women from being in politics, from being in the arena, but not them," Clinton said opening the conference where current and former Irish, British and EU leaders will speak over the coming three days.

"There wouldn't be a Good Friday agreement to celebrate today if it were not for the women of Northern Ireland," Clinton said, to applause from the audience.

Other recipients included Ireland's first female president, Mary Robinson, Northern Ireland's first female first minister, Arlene Foster and Lyra McKee, a journalist who was killed in 2019 during an outbreak of the sporadic violence that still exists. (Reuters).

Former Irish President Mary McAleese (left) and Liz O'Donnell on stage during the three-day international conference at Queen's University Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement

A visitor looks at a painting of British politician Mo Mowlam, painted by John Keane in 2001, at the National Portrait Gallery in London, August 19, 2005

Out of the Shadows, Michelle Rogers (b.1966)

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Speaking about the awards, Secretary Clinton said: “It gives me great pleasure to award the Chancellor’s Medal for Civic Leadership to women from across Northern Ireland and beyond who have made a significant contribution to society.

“For a long time, we saw politics being played out by men, and men only. When I visited in 1995, I saw at first-hand how the women on the ground were making an indelible mark and helping shape the peace process in a variety of ways.

“I am so pleased that these awards fully recognise the commitment, skills and determination of a diverse group of women, from across the political and civic spectrum, who helped secure and drive froward peace on this island.

“I am pleased to recognise all of you, I am proud of your impact and I am thankful for what you have done. Congratulations.” (Qub.ac.uk).

HONORARY GRADUATES ARE:

• Ambassador Melanne Verveer, LLD for distinction in public service

• Martha Pope, DUniv for distinction in public service

• Lady Trimble, DUniv for services to the community

• Pat Hume (posthumously), DUniv for services to the community

Chancellor's Medal for achievement in Public Service and Civic Leadership 

• Dr Mo Mowlam (posthumously) - first female Secretary of State 

• Eileen Bell CBE- first female speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly 

• Bairbre de Brún, Bríd Rodgers and Carmel Hanna- first female Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive 

• Baroness Arlene Foster- first female First Minister of Northern Ireland 

• Mary Robinson - first female President of Ireland 

• Mary Harney - first female Tanaiste   

• Judith Gillespie CBE- first female Deputy Chief Constable 

• Lady Justice Siobhan Keegan - first female Chief Justice 

• Jane Morris - first female deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly 

• Baroness Nuala O’Loan - first female Police Ombudsman

• Professor Monica McWilliams - first female leader of a Northern Ireland Political party and the first female Human rights commissioner 

Chancellor’s Award for Services to the Community and Civic Leadership 

• Baroness May Blood (posthumously)

• Lyra McKee (posthumously)

• Loretta Brennan Glucksman

• Lady Sylvia Hermon

• Professor Mary McAleese

• Professor Meghan O’Sullivan

• Liz O'Donnell

• Baroness Eileen Paisley

• Dr Amanda Sloat

• Ambassador Nancy Soderberg

• Dr Avila Kilmurray

• Dawn Purvis

Secretary Hillary Clinton (second from the left) at the panel discussion last Saturday following the screening of 'Lyra,’ Which she and Bill attended about the life of murdered journalist Lyra McKee who was killed when a bullet struck her in the head while observing disruption in the Creggan estate area in 2019. Police later blamed the New IRA for her murder. (Source.Belfast Telegraph. Thank you, Roundup consultant, Linda Wharton, for pointing out the article cited).

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Trump called for the death penalty for this man and his friends. Why didn’t the world stop Trump then?

A Man Whom Trump Reviled Is Running for Office in Harlem. ‘Karma,’ He Says.

Yusef Salaam, one of the wrongfully convicted Central Park Five, is running for a New York City Council seat in Harlem.

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Yusef Salaam, one of five Black and Latino teenagers wrongfully convicted of a 1989 rape in Central Park, is finally where he seems to belong: on the campaign trail.

In Harlem, where Mr. Salaam is a first-time candidate for the City Council, he is magic to watch. He gives dap to men outside subway stations in Harlem and charms the women of the district, who tend to linger when Mr. Salaam, who bears a striking resemblance to the actor Idris Elba, breaks into a megawatt smile and begins talking in gentle tones about the need for safe streets.

This is the man whose arrest prompted Donald Trump to publicly call for the death penalty in 1989 when Mr. Salaam was just 15 and charged with four other teenagers with a horrific crime that they did not commit.

Mr. Trump took out full-page ads in four New York newspapers, including The New York Times, calling for the restoration of the state death penalty over the case. In 2002, the young men were exonerated after serving years in prison.

[Thirteen years after an investment banker jogging in Central Park was savagely beaten, raped and left for dead, … in one final, extraordinary ruling that took about five minutes, Justice Charles J. Tejada of State Supreme Court in Manhattan granted recent motions made by defense lawyers and Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, to vacate all convictions against the young men in connection with the jogger attack and a spree of robberies and assaults in the park that night.

The judge ruled based on new evidence pointing to another man, Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer-rapist who stepped forward in January, as the probable sole attacker of the jogger. He was linked to the rape by DNA and other evidence, as the reliability of the earlier confessions and other trial evidence was cast in doubt.] Mr. Trump has refused to apologize. “You have people on both sides of that,” he said on the White House lawn in 2019.

It was thanks to Mr. Trump’s high profile that the case vaulted from what had been a local crime story to national notoriety, Mr. Salaam told me. “We were almost untouchables,” he said.

Now that notoriety has provided Mr. Salaam, 49, with a platform on which to run for office. And in a twist of fate straight out of the tabloids, it’s Mr. Trump who has now been indicted on criminal charges while Mr. Salaam runs for office.

“It was karma,” he said of Mr. Trump’s legal situation, while sitting inside the Sugar Hill Cafe in Harlem. “I hope he’s able to do the time,” he said, with a hint of mischief in his eyes.

Behind the smile is the story of a Black man who lost his childhood to the American justice system.

When Mr. Salaam was wrongfully convicted, he was a student at Rice High School, a Catholic prep school in Harlem, and had previously studied at the elite LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts. At home, dinner conversations were filled with Black history and tales of the Jim Crow South, where his mother had been born. Mr. Salaam read voraciously, studying Haile Selassie and Nelson Mandela. After school, Mr. Salaam and his friends would hang out in Central Park, despite his mother’s admonition to avoid the crime-ridden area.

“We had our own botanical garden,” he said of the park. “When she would say certain things to me about how I needed to act or behave, I thought maybe she was bugging out.” After he was convicted in 1990, Mr. Salaam served nearly seven years in prison. (New York Times).

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Foaming at the mouth.

DeSantis says state lawmakers will 'formally nullify' Disney's attempt to thwart state takeover.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday threatened to build a prison or a competing theme park near the Magic Kingdom or raise taxes on Walt Disney World to retaliate against the company for resisting a state takeover of its special taxing district.

Laying out his plan to exact retribution against the House of Mouse, the Florida Republican said the GOP-controlled state legislature will take steps to “formally nullify” Disney’s attempts to maintain control of the district through last-minute maneuvering.

DeSantis said lawmakers will advance a bill that will “make sure that people understand that you don’t get to put your own company over the will of the people of Florida.”

Later on Monday, DeSantis suggested the state might build a prison or its own theme park next door to Walt Disney World. (CNN).

One more thing. Does the Governor know Disney is Florida’s largest employer?

What till he hears about the Disney Gay Days in June?

Gay Days at Disney World celebrate Pride, LGBTQ identity. What to know.


Joseph Clark will never forget his first Gay Days.

"Just getting off the (monorail) and seeing the sea of red shirts, to this day it gives me goosebumps," he recalled of the annual Pride event at Walt Disney World and other Orlando-area venues, which is neither sponsored by nor exclusive to Disney.

Back in 2008, Clark was a regular attendee who made his own red shirt with friends. Now CEO of GayDays.com, he explained the idea is to "wear red, be seen," not so much as a demonstration but a celebration of identity.

"It was just a whole group of people together, and there was no judgment going on," he said. "There was no 'Oh my God, they're gay.' Like yep, most of us were, or we had friends and allies with us that weren't, who were just welcoming to the community. ... It was life-changing for me."

How did Gay Days get started?

Gay Days Orlando started three decades ago with a group of friends who decided to meet up at Disney World in red shirts. It has since ballooned into an annual, multiday event, which draws upwards of 180,000 people to the Orlando area from across the world.

When are Gay Days 2023?

Gay Days Orlando runs from May 31 through June 4 this year. Dates vary by year, but always fall in early June and are announced annually on the event's website. (USA Today).

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Count on Republicans to do the wrong thing.

Republicans line up against replacing Feinstein on critical committee.

Senate Republicans are preparing to stop a temporary replacement for the ailing Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee this week, a move with significant ramifications for Democrats’ ability to confirm federal judges.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday afternoon that he wants to quickly sub in another senator for Feinstein (D-Calif.), whose absence from the Judiciary panel is hampering Democrats’ ability to easily confirm more of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal bench. But just one Republican can object to executing that move quickly, and the GOP opposition is overflowing.

Schumer said he is angling to have a conversation with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about the matter soon — but over the course of Monday, deal-making GOP senators from Collins to Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). lined up in opposition to temporarily replacing Feinstein on the panel.

Republicans’ blockade of the resolution to replace Feinstein will effectively make it tougher for Democrats to confirm more judges — which Biden’s party can normally do unilaterally with a 51-49 majority. The judiciary panel’s chair, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), has repeatedly delayed committee votes on lifetime appointees during Feinstein’s treatment for shingles. Democrats still have some judicial nominees ready for floor votes, but that list will run dry relatively soon without action at the Judiciary Committee. (Politico).

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Did you hear hostile jokes and comments about Bud Lite and wonder what it was all about?

Bud Light Kicked a Hornet’s Nest and Ran Away. Bud Light Blew it With Dylan Mulvaney: Opinion by Ben Schott.

One of the world’s biggest beer brands just set a new low in corporate courage.

Photo: Dylan Mulvaney / Instagram

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This is a marketing case study for the ages: how not to handle brand collaborations in a dangerously polarized space.

Dylan Mulvaney is a 26-year-old American actress, singer and social-media influencer, with 10.8 million followers on TikTok and 1.8 million on Instagram. 1 Mulvaney began transitioning into a transgender woman during the Covid pandemic, documenting her personal journey in a viral TikTok series called “Days of Girlhood” that has so far garnered more than 1 billion views.

On March 13, 2023, Mulvaney reached day 365 of her journey. To commemorate this milestone, Bud Light created a one-off personalized can — emblazoned with her face — which she unveiled during a March Madness Bud Light promotional video:

The reaction to this collaboration from some quarters was as predictable as a Trump tweet.

Ted Nugent declared it “the epitome of cultural deprivation.” Travis Tritt said, “I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider.” Kid Rock shot up several cases of Bud Light. And the CEO of Freedom Speaks Up launched “Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right 100% Woke Free American Beer.”

Similar reactions have greeted Mulvaney’s collaborations with brands like Kate Spade, Olayand, most recently, Nike sports bras — which prompted Caitlyn Jenner to tweet “STOP TRYING TO ERASE WOMEN.”

But this is not so much a story about trans rights, Dylan Mulvaney or internet outrage, as one about corporate bravery.

Even Mulvaney’s harshest critics must acknowledge that she is standing tall in a hurricane of hate, taking the invective with remarkable poise. In cowardly contrast, Anheuser-Busch instantly retreated into the shadows. Ditching its regular schedule of promotion, Bud Light ceased posting  to Instagram on March 30 and to Twitteron April 2; Anheuser-Busch was absent from Twitter and Instagram after April 1.

This undignified silence dragged on for a fortnight before the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, Brendan Whitworth, released a bizarrely convoluted and incongruously patriotic statement headlined “Our Responsibility To America”:

As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew.

We’re honored to be part of the fabric of this country. Anheuser-Busch employs more than 18,000 people and our independent distributors employ an additional 47,000 valued colleagues. We have thousands of partners, millions of fans and a proud history supporting our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere.

We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.

My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.

I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. I spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others.

Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.

It’s hard to figure out what Anheuser-Busch actually thinks about trans rights or Dylan Mulvaney over the noise of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” That said, “we never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people” sure sounds like a complex issue being thrown under the bus.

It’s frankly implausible that Bud Light gave no thought to the impact of its Mulvaney collaboration — especially as “inclusivity” is central to the brand strategy outlined on March 23 by Bud Light’s vice president, Alissa Heinerscheid, who told the Make Yourself at Home podcast:

This brand is in decline, it’s been in decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will no future for Bud Light. So I had this super clear mandate, we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand … [This] means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men. And representation is at the heart of evolution.

More controversially, Heinerscheid added:

“Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor and it was really important that we had another approach.”

From time to time, businesses make consequential “gaffes” — usually by saying the quiet part out loud. One recalls when the managing director of Roederer Champagne snubbed the hip-hop community; when the chairman of Barilla pasta declared, “I would never do a commercial with a homosexual family”; or when the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch said, “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

But Bud Light’s action is worse than a gaffe, it’s a betrayal.

The “3rd most valuable beer brand in the world” sought to “evolve and elevate” its “fratty” image on the coat-tails of a trans-influencer — but quit when the going got tough. It’s reminiscent of the hokey-pokey recently performed by the publisher Puffin who, by bowdlerizing the children’s books of Roald Dahl, before releasing unexpurgated “classic” editions, simultaneously castigated and cashed in on their author’s racism, misogyny and gleeful spite.

So what happens now?

Well, the outrage army will march ever onward and whatever Bud Light boycott actually coalesces will likely evaporate. (Who remembers the right-wing boycotts of Keurig, Starbucks, Oreos, Beyoncé and the NFL? Or the anti-Trump boycott campaign Grab Your Wallet?) Indeed, it may be that Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney end up profiting from the outrage, since “no such thing as bad PR” seems, in the long run, a more accurate mantra than “go woke, go broke.”

But while the “culture war” is, for some, just a cynical rallying cry or comic rim-shot, it does have actual casualties. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, transgender Americans are over four times more likely than cisgender citizens to experience violent victimization, including rape and sexual assault. And Everytown’s Transgender Homicide Tracker reported a 93% increase in tracked homicides of trans and gender-nonconforming Americans between 2017 and 2021.

Such statistics give a darker hue to the violence central to Kid Rock’s Twitter stunt and the advert for “Ultra Right” beer:

Photo: Kid Rock/Twitter; Freedom Speaks Up/YouTube

None of this is simple. After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, brands in every sector came under intense pressure to react. As I explored at the time, for some companies (Nike, Coca-Cola) taking a stand was consistent with their established values; for many (Gillette, Porsche) it was a moment to be marked and moved on from; and for a few (Ford, Pepsi) it was something to be ducked until the clamor died down.

Similarly, when companies like Fred Perry get “hatejacked” by extremists like the Proud Boys, they risk being dragged into a political debate a world away from their carefully cultivated brand values.

But Bud Light’s unforced error is different. Bud Light actively and eagerly sought out a controversial influencer in a dangerously polarized space, with neither the wisdom to plan for a backlash nor the bravery to stand by its partner.

This should be a teaching moment for every company that aspires to be at culture’s cutting edge: Kicking a political hornet’s nest for clicks and giggles before running away is no way to elevate a brand or promote a cause. (Bloomberg).

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Chita!

Chita Rivera on Love, Showbiz and All That Jazz.

Her new memoir finds the 90-year-old singer-dancer hungry for acclaim, but generous to others on her way to getting it.

How did Chita Rivera feel when she saw Rita Moreno,another actress of Puerto Rican descent, in the movie role of Anita that Rivera had originated on Broadway in “West Side Story”?

“How dare she?” she recalls thinking in “Chita,” her playful and history-rich memoir. “That is my dress, that is my earring!” The truth is she was already kicking it up with Dick Van Dyke on Broadway in “Bye Bye Birdie” at the time. So she got over it. Then, when that show became a movie, Janet Leigh took Rivera’s part of Rosie, even after Rivera killed with “Spanish Rose,” her stereotype-bashing number, on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” (Look it up on YouTube, you won’t be sorry.)

Years later the steamy role of Velma Kelly that she originated in “Chicago” for Bob Fosse went to Catherine Zeta-Jones, who won an Oscar for it. “She’s the perfect choice,” she responded when Rob Marshall, its director, checked in.

Cutthroat as the acting game may be, and even harder for talent with Hispanic names long before J. Lo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rosie Perez and Daphne Rubin-Vega hit the scene, Rivera comes off as thirsty for recognition — but not bloodthirsty… (Review, New York Times).

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