News
Grenell tapped as U.S. envoy for Serbia-Kosovo peace negotiations
Gay ambassador was point person for decriminalization initiative
President Trump has named U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-ranking openly gay person in his administration, to become the new point person for the U.S. government in Serbia-Kosovo peace negotiations.
The White House announced late Thursday in a statement Trump would tap Grenell for the role in addition to keeping him at his position as U.S. ambassador to Germany.
Although most Americans were probably last aware of the conflict between Serbia-Kosovo during U.S. involvement in war between the two in the Clinton administration, those tensions have been renewed.
In May, the Associated Press reported tensions flared after Kosovo’s police raided Serb-dominated areas in the region’s north and arrested “scores of people.”
“There have been clashes between Kosovo’s police and local Serbs, with several people injured, and two U.N. personnel were detained, including a Russian,” the AP reported. “Serbia raised its combat readiness and warned it won’t stand by if Serbs in Kosovo are attacked.”
A White House official said Grenell won’t need Senate confirmation to assume his new role.
Grenell has served as point person for the Trump administration in its global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality. President Trump brought up the initiative during his speech last month before the United Nations just before tensions grew with Congress as a result of the impeachment inquiry launched by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Grenell would retain the role as point person for the global initiative. Neither Grenell nor the White House would immediately respond to the Washington Blade’s request to comment to confirm that.
The White House notice indicates Grenell would “serve concurrently” as U.S. envoy in the Serbia-Kosovo negotiations and U.S. ambassador to Germany, suggesting his current role will remain unchanged.
Grenell was reportedly in consideration to become Trump’s national security adviser in the aftermath of the termination of John Bolton, but Trump ended up going with Robert O’Brien, who also serves as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.
At the time, several reporters said Trump was, in fact, considering Grenell for another position role of national security adviser. It may well have been the Serbia-Kosovo position for which he was nominated Thursday.
Charles Moran, managing director for Log Cabin Republicans, said he’s “glad to see this appointment come through, and it isn’t any huge surprise.”
“Both presidents of Serbia and Kosovo have already established a dialogue with Ambassador Grenell through the close proximity to Berlin, and the Trump administration has been using Ric to speak to them for a while now,” Moran said. “Ric is President Trump’s guy in Europe — now might just be the tipping point to establish a lasting peace accord in the region.”
Politics
George Santos sentenced to 87 months in prison for fraud case
Judge: ‘You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.’
Disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in prison on Friday, after pleading guilty last year to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” said Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.”
The first openly gay GOP member of Congress, Santos became a laughing stock after revelations came to light about his extensive history of fabricating and exaggerating details about his life and career.
His colleagues voted in December 2023 to expel him from Congress. An investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that Santos had used pilfered campaign funds for cosmetic procedures, designer fashion, and OnlyFans.
Federal prosecutors, however, found evidence that “Mr. Santos stole from donors, used his campaign account for personal purchases, inflated his fund-raising numbers, lied about his wealth on congressional documents and committed unemployment fraud,” per the New York Times.
The former congressman told the paper this week that he would not ask for a pardon. Despite Santos’s loyalty to President Donald Trump, the president has made no indication that he would intervene in his legal troubles.
Maryland
A Baltimore theater educator lost jobs at Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Center
Tavish Forsyth concluded they could not work for Trump
BY WESLEY CASE | Tavish Forsyth had come to a conclusion: They could not work for President Donald Trump.
So the 32-year-old Baltimore resident stripped down, turned on their camera, and lit their career on fire.
“F—— Donald Trump and f—— the Kennedy Center,” a naked Forsyth, an associate artistic lead at the Washington National Opera’s Opera Institute, which is run by the Kennedy Center, said in a video that went viral. The board of the nation’s leading cultural institution had elected Trump just weeks prior as its chairman after he gutted the board of members appointed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Little Gay Pub to host April 25 celebration of life for Patrick Shaw
School teacher, D.C. resident praised for ‘warmth, humor, kindness’
Co-workers and friends will hold a celebration of life for highly acclaimed schoolteacher and D.C. resident Patrick Shaw beginning at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 at The Little Gay Pub 1100 P St., N.W.
Little Gay Pub co-owner and Shaw’s friend, Dusty Martinez, said Shaw passed away unexpectedly on April 19 from a heart related ailment at the age of 60.
“Patrick touched so many lives with his warmth, humor, kindness, and unmistakable spark,” Martinez said. “He was a truly special soul – funny, vibrant, sassy, and full of life and we are heartbroken by his loss.”
In an Instagram posting, Shaw’s colleagues said Shaw was a second-grade special education teacher at the J.F. Cook campus of D.C.’s Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School.
“Patrick brought warmth, joy, and deep commitment to Mundo Verde,” his colleagues said in their posting. “His daily Broadway sing-alongs, vibrant outfits, and genuine love for his students filled our community with energy and laughter.”
The posted message adds, “Patrick was more than a teacher; he was a light in our school, inspiring us all to show up with heart, humor, and kindness every day. His spirit will be deeply missed.”
The Washington Blade is preparing a full obituary on Patrick Shaw to be published soon.
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