Activism

Buzzfeed reports: Three times as many bus parking permits have been requested for the Women’s March on Washington, DC, than for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, city councilman Charles Allen told BuzzFeed News. As of Thursday, when Allen held a hearing to review inauguration preparations, 393 charter bus permits had been requested for the inauguration on Jan. 20. In comparison, a …

The Hill reports: Protestors dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan interrupted Tuesday’s confirmation hearing of Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions, chiding the Alabama senator for past allegations of racist comments. The two protestors were dressed in white robes and hoods, holding foam fingers with “KKK” and “Go Jeffie Boy” written on the hands. They chanted sarcastic praise at Sessions, …

The Huffington Post reports: Republicans are plowing forward this month with repealing the Affordable Care Act, and Democrats, with little ability to stop them, have plans to make it as politically damaging for them as possible. On Monday night, Senate Democrats plan to stay up late, delivering floor speeches and Facebook Live broadcasts attacking the Republicans’ drive to dismantle President …

Meryl Streep tonight accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes and devoted her acceptance speech to eviscerating Donald Trump, whom she never mentioned by name. A partial transcript from her speech: As an actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us, and let you feel what that feels like, and …

Reuters reports: Anarchist groups have threatened to shut down Republican Donald Trump’s swearing-in as U.S. president, but police in Washington said on Friday they believe the thousands of security officers assigned to the event will be able to head off any disruption. Dozens of activist groups plan to protest the Jan. 20 inauguration of the New York real estate developer, …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Cher is headed for Lifetime. The iconic singer-actress has been tapped to star in Flint, a TV movie based on the Flint, Mich., water crisis, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Craig Zadan, Neil Meron and Katie Couric will executive produce, alongside Cher. Bruce Beresford will direct the movie from Sony Pictures Television. Barbara Stepansky will pen …

Politico reports: A progressive advocacy group is launching a television ad campaign designed to pressure Republican Sens. Dean Heller and Jeff Flake to oppose Steven Mnuchin’s nomination as Treasury secretary. The ads, paid for by the group Allied Progress, are scheduled to begin airing Wednesday in the senators’ home states of Nevada and Arizona. The TV spots highlight the money …

The sit-in is being live-streamed on Facebook. AL.com reports: The president of the NAACP and the head of the group’s Mobile branch are occupying the Alabama senator’s Mobile office until he withdraws from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general or the group gets arrested. The protest at Sessions’ Mobile Senate office was among several demonstrations held statewide against Sessions’ …

Raleigh’s NBC affiliate reports: The executive committee of the state NAACP will ask the national leaders of the civil rights group for a nationwide economic boycott of North Carolina to protest the actions of the General Assembly, state NAACP President Rev. William Barber said Thursday. “This legislature is trying to raise a new Confederacy in policy,” Barber said at a …

The New York Times reports: Amid a tense and dramatic backdrop of outrage and frustration, the Republican-controlled state legislature on Friday approved a sweeping package of restrictions on the power of the governor’s office in advance of the swearing in of the Democratic governor-elect, Roy Cooper. Protesters spent a second day chanting and disrupting debate. Some were arrested and led …

Via Mediaite: There’s a new celebrity PSA out tonight featuring some big-name actors asking members of the electoral college to do the right thing and step in to vote their conscience (a.k.a. not Donald Trump). Martin Sheen, Richard Schiff, Debra Messing, James Cromwell, BD Wong, Bob Odenkirk, Moby, and some other big names all appear in the video for Unite …

Activist Matt Baume takes a look at the FDA’s recently amended ban on blood donations from gay men and what may come once notoriously anti-gay Tom Price takes over the agency. From the clip description: “Back in the 80s, when the ban was created, it was a best-guess effort to keep blood donations safe since there hadn’t been much research …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: A prominent gay-rights activist and former U.S. presidential candidate hopes to build “the biggest, loudest and most comprehensive” legal case ever mounted for revoking the tax-exempt status of the Mormon church. Republican political operative Fred Karger, a longtime critic of LDS Church involvement in California’s 2008 Proposition 8 campaign, said Thursday he has amassed a …

People Magazine reports: In a sobering post-election period, Glen Pannell has figured out a way to make us smile — one pants-less donation at a time. The graphic designer and actor bears more than a passing resemblance to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, and now he is using that genetic stroke of luck to help others as a part of a …

The Today Show reports: For Lady Gaga, kindness has been the key to finding peace in her own life. “I’ve been searching for ways to help myself. And I found that kindness is the best way,” she told TODAY recently while on a visit to Harlem’s Ali Forney Center, a shelter for homeless LGBT youth, to surprise the teens living …

Politico reports: Liberal media-watchdog organization Media Matters is naming a new president and taking its coverage in a new direction, with less emphasis on cable news and more focus on fake news and other “bad actors.” Angelo Carusone, currently the organization’s executive vice president, will take over as president. The group, known for taking on what they argue is misinformation …

Over 2.6 million views in the first 48 hours. Mic.com reports: The onset of this PSA from Sandy Hook Promise, an organization created in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, begins innocently enough. The video follows a boy, Evan (the same name as the video), exchanging messages on a desk in the school …

Washington DC’s ABC affiliate reports: Christmas decorations are popping up left and right, but one street in NW Washington has a different kind of decoration this season—rainbow flags. “A respectful message showing, in my case, my disagreement with some of his thinking,” said Ilse Heintzen. The ‘he’ Heintzen is referring to is Vice-President Elect Mike Pence. Pence moved into a …

The Winston-Salem Chronicle reports: If state lawmakers insert themselves into deciding North Carolina’s next governor, or changing the state Supreme Court to nullify Justice-elect Mike Morgan’s victory, there will be mass demonstrations and civil disobedience, promises N.C. NAACP President Rev. Dr. William Barber II. “We believe either attempting to stack the Supreme Court or deciding the governor’s race in the …

The China Post reports: More than 10,000 same-sex marriage advocates held a sit-in outside the Legislature on Monday, the day of the last public hearing before a legislative committee proceeds with the second reading of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. Supporters waved rainbow flags and held banners reading “no discount on human rights,” and “special treatment is discrimination,” …