Morning! While you were sleeping (or staying up to binge-watch Friends for the tenth time, or pulling an all-nighter in the library), a few things went down that you’ll probably want to know about. So grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and get scrolling.
Rumor Has It
In an interview for ELLE’s August 2019 cover story, Miley Cyrus, who came out as pansexual in 2015, opened up about her sexuality and her “complex” and “unique” marriage to actor Liam Hemsworth.
“I think it’s very confusing to people that I’m married. But my relationship is unique,” the 26-year-old singer told ELLE. “And I don’t know that I would ever publicly allow people in there because it’s so complex, and modern, and new that I don’t think we’re in a place where people would get it.”
Cyrus revealed that despite being “in a hetero relationship,” she is still “very sexually attracted to women,” HuffPost reports.
“I’m in a hetero relationship, but I still am very sexually attracted to women. People become vegetarian for health reasons, but bacon is still f—ing good, and I know that,” she continued. “I made a partner decision. This is the person I feel has my back the most.”
The pop singer also explained that she has trouble being labeled a “wife,” and prefers the term “partner.”
“I definitely don’t fit into a stereotypical wife role. I don’t even like that word,” Cyrus said.
According to Refinery29, the singer said her parents’ marriage inspires her, because “they were always partners. That’s why I like that word. ‘Husband and wife’ sounds like a cigarette commercial from the ’50s to me.”
Cyrus previously talked about her sexuality and marriage in Vanity Fair’s March 2019 cover story.
“We’re redefining, to be f—ing frank, what it looks like for someone that’s a queer person like myself to be in a hetero relationship. A big part of my pride and my identity is being a queer person,” she said told Vanity Fair.
“What I preach is: People fall in love with people, not gender, not looks, not whatever. What I’m in love with exists on almost a spiritual level. It has nothing to do with sexuality.”
You can read the rest of Cyrus’ interview over at ELLE.
News You Can Eat
To celebrate its 82nd birthday, Krispy Kreme is giving a gift to us. That’s right — Krispy Kreme is kicking off the party by selling a festive cake batter-filled donut for a limited time.
Starting Monday, July 15, for one week only, Krispy Kreme will be offering the special-edition Original Filled Birthday Batter Doughnut, Delish reports.
This celebratory donut is “festively filled with delicious birthday cake batter, dipped in strawberry icing and topped with party sprinkles.” Obviously, the Original Filled Birthday Batter Doughnut is the true embodiment of a party.
I mean, just take a moment to soak this utterly perfect donut in.
But if one donut is not enough for you, on Friday, July 19, Krispy Kreme will be offering a special deal: buy one dozen and get a second dozen of Original Glazed Doughnuts for just $1 at participating shops in the U.S, Food & Wine Magazine reports.
“Krispy Kreme fans love to celebrate our birthday. They really make it their own party, which is good with us,” Chief Marketing Officer Dave Skena said in a statement. “We’re continuing our birthday tradition of the $1 dozen deal, which is great. But this year, for the first time ever, we are filling an Original Glazed doughnut with birthday cake batter…and that’s even better.”
Honestly, it really doesn’t get any better than a donut filled with birthday cake batter and dollar dozen deal.
But, thankfully for us, that’s not all. Krispy Kreme also posted on Twitter that “#ChocolateGlazed doughnuts are BACK this Friday, July 12th!”
Guess who’s back, back again,
Chocolate’s back, tell a friend!#ChocolateGlazed doughnuts are BACK this Friday, July 12th! See you there. ?? #Doughnuts #KrispyKreme pic.twitter.com/AZE1BzyWpO— Krispy Kreme (@krispykreme) July 10, 2019
Krispy Kreme is sure giving us a lot to celebrate. It might as well be our birthday.
Then This Happened
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is ending the fight to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census and will instead take executive action, requiring federal agencies to provide the Commerce Department information on citizens and noncitizens in the United States, The Hill reports.
Trump said this process will provide a more accurate citizenship count.
“Today, I am here to say we are not backing down on our effort to determine the citizenship status of the United States population,” Trump said in the Rose Garden of the White House, flanked by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr.
“I’m proud to be a citizen,” Trump added. “You’re proud to be a citizen. The only people that are not proud to be citizens are the ones who are fighting us all the way about the word ‘citizen.’”
“I am hereby ordering every department and agency in the federal government to provide the Department of Commerce with all requested records regarding the number of citizens and noncitizens in our country,” Trump remarked, announcing the executive action Thursday. “They must furnish all legally accessible records in their possession immediately. We will utilize these vast federal databases to gain a full, complete, and accurate count of the noncitizen population.”
Trump backs off his plan to add a census citizenship question and directs agencies to hand over data on noncitizens in the US to the Commerce Department https://t.co/zgzpURsIL6 pic.twitter.com/pSUtBjiltX
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 11, 2019
Barr later took the podium to congratulate Trump on the executive order, and indicated that this was the end of the three separate ongoing court cases the administration is fighting in Maryland, California and New York over the administration’s effort to include a citizenship question on the census.
According to ABC News, near the end of Barr’s remarks, he seemed to suggest that the Trump administration would explore option to use the information collected by the agencies to advise the congressional redistricting process, which would very likely prompt legal challenges from the groups that had already been fighting against the administration for attempting to include the citizenship question.
“There is a current dispute over whether illegal aliens can be included for apportionment purposes,” Barr said. “Depending on the resolution of that dispute, this data may possibly prove relevant.”
But Democratic leaders and the groups challenging the citizenship question declared Thursday’s announcement a victory.
“The president’s retreat on adding the misguided citizen question to the census was long overdue and is a significant victory for democracy and fair representation,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement.
Director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project Dale Ho, who argued the census case before the Supreme Court, celebrated the announcement in a statement Thursday evening.
“Trump’s attempt to weaponize the census ends not with a bang but a whimper,” Ho said. “He lost in the Supreme Court, which saw through his lie about needing the question for the Voting Rights Act. It is clear he simply wanted to sow fear in immigrant communities and turbocharge Republican gerrymandering efforts by diluting the political influence of Latino communities.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), who also fought the citizenship question in federal court, said that Trump’s decision to drop his administration’s effort to include the question “is a victory for all Americans, no matter how he tries to frame it.”
“The bottom line remains: everyone must count in our nation and no one should be pushed into the shadows,” Becerra said in a statement.
“Reason has finally prevailed, and President Trump will no longer pursue a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census. After more than 800 days of attempting to break with its own past practice, the federal government will proceed in the manner as their own Census Bureau had recommended from the beginning,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
Happy Thoughts
This Saturday, July 13, is National French Fry Day! To celebrate this glorious day, here is where you can snag some awesome deals and free fries!