Author: Randy Slovacek

Posted on

Franklin Graham: “Gay Pride Flag Is Offensive To Christians”

Homophobe Franklin Graham celebrated on his Facebook page the news that the Trump administration is rejecting requests from US embassies to fly the Pride flag during Pride Month.
Franklin Graham

Homophobe Franklin Graham celebrated on his Facebook page the news that the Trump administration is rejecting requests from US embassies to fly the Pride flag during Pride Month.

“I want to thank President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for making the decision not to fly the gay flag over our embassies during June in recognition of gay pride month. That is the right decision.

“The only flag that should fly over our embassies is the flag of the United States of America.

“The gay pride flag is offensive to Christians and millions of people of other faiths, not only in this country but around the world. The U.S. flag represents our nation—everyone—regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation.”

What a dick.

Posted on

My Favorite Thing Today: “The Wow Concert”

From CBS’s Sunday Morning: “The Wow Concert”

It was an unusual outburst for a classical music concert: an audience member shouted out “Wow!” at the very end of Mozart’s “Masonic Funeral Music,” performed by the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. The group’s president and CEO, David Snead, was determined to find out who had broken audience protocol in such a forthright way. The answer to his query proved very surprising, as Steve Hartman discovered.

Wait for it…

(h/t theOUTfront)

Posted on

Pride History: Stonewall Icon Marsha P. Johnson “Darling, I Want My Gay Rights Now”

Marsha P. Johnson (Credit: Diana Davies/New York Public Library)

As we recognize Pride Month, in addition to the celebrations and Pride festivals/parades, I do want to offer a few short bits of history along the way so we know whose shoulders on which we stand today.

Pioneering drag performer, activist and a leader at the Stonewall Rebellion will be honored with a monument near the Stonewall Inn this year.

Learn why in one minute:

Posted on

NY Times: Trump “Unsettles The Settled”

The New York Times, in reporting on Donald Trump's 'last minute' escape from implementing tariffs on Mexico, notes the pattern Donald Trump seems to have in his negotiations that end up with - who else? - him looking like a hero for a mess he created in the first place.
Donald Trump

The New York Times, in reporting on Donald Trump’s ‘last minute’ escape from implementing tariffs on Mexico, notes the pattern Donald Trump seems to have in his negotiations that end up with – who else? – him looking like a hero for a mess he created in the first place.

These are often dramas of his own making, with him naturally the hero. He stakes out maximalist positions and issues brutal ultimatums to compel action, arguing that extreme problems demand extreme tactics. At times, though, it can seem like little more than smoke and mirrors substituting for serious policymaking, a way of pretending to make progress without actually solving the underlying problem.

“This is a pattern we’ve seen since the first days of this administration,” said Ned Price, a former C.I.A. official who worked on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council staff and is now director of policy at National Security Action, a progressive foreign policy advocacy organization.

“The president manufactures a crisis, galvanizes his base around the challenge, leaves the definition of success undefined, pretends to play hardball and, lo and behold, finds a solution that entails little more than window-dressing, if that,” Mr. Price said. “For Trump, it’s a win-win.” But “the loser tends to be the American people, oftentimes Trump’s base first and foremost,” he added.

As I, and many other people smarter than me, noted already, the ‘deal’ Trump announced with Mexico is actually a collection of prior agreements with our southern neighbor assembled to look like a wholly new agreement.

It’s not.

Posted on

Pride Music: Sam Smith Covers Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know”

Back in 2014, out recording artist Sam Smith debuted his new cover of the Whitney Houston hit “How Will I Know” while visiting the SiriusXM Studios yesterday.

I love when folks slow a song down and we discover a whole new side to the writer’s work.

Gorgeous idea here.

(h/t JMG)

Posted on

Conflicting Reports Regarding Possible Shooting At DC Pride

Earlier today at DC Pride

UPDATE: Capital Pride now reports ‘the threat has been contained’ but there are still conflicting reports.

********************************************

There have been reports of gunshots at Washington DC Pride.

Very few details at this time. DC Pride has announced the Pride parade has been suspended.

According to reports, a heavy police presence is responding.

Posted on

Pride Music: ROZES “Call Me”

As we celebrate our strength and resilience of not just surviving but thriving as a community during Pride Month, it’s also important to remember even the strongest among us might need a word of support.

Out singer/songwriter ROZES drops her new single, “Call Me,” a soulful, solo piano anthem with a heartfelt hook.

“Just know that you can call me, and I’ll always be there.”

With over 1 billion-plus streams, she has been praised by folks at Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, Paper Mag and Marie Claire, and clocked appearances on CONAN, Good Morning America and more.

Known for her recent single “Halfway There,” the “Official Anthem of the 2019 Women’s March,” the Philadelphia artist intentionally worked with an all-female team to produce the new track.

(photo credit: Adam Contiello)

The song sounds the alarm in support of mental health, an important topic close to the talented artist, who says “our mental health is not a burden.”

“I think it’s important that we do not underestimate the power of a phone call,” shares ROZES regarding the inspiration of the song. “The courage to reach out can change a life, and maybe it’s your own. It’s honest about mental health and offering hopeful hand to those in the thick of it.”

Sensitive, passionate, and candidly emotional, “Call Me” falls right in the sweet spot for the multi-platinum artist.

An artist worthy of your attention.  If you like Alicia Keyes or Adele, hit the play button below.

I like.

Posted on

NY Times: US/Mexico Agreement Was Not ‘Last Minute’ But Agreed To Months Ago

Donald Trump

Late Friday evening, Donald Trump enthusiastically announced that his threat of a tariff war with Mexico had been avoided.

Trump faced intense pressure from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to not implement the tariffs. So, you can imagine why he was so proud of the ‘last minute’ agreement.

But was it?

The New York Times is reporting that much of the new ‘deal’ was agreed upon months ago according to officials from both the U.S. and Mexico familiar with the progress of the deal.

It would appear that the Trumpster’s tweets were basically theater.

Friday’s joint declaration says Mexico agreed to the “deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border.” But the Mexican government had already pledged to do that in March during secret talks in Miami between Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security, and Olga Sanchez, the Mexican secretary of the interior, the officials said.

The centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s deal was an expansion of a program to allow asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their legal cases proceed. But that arrangement was first reached in December in a pair of painstakingly negotiated diplomatic notes that the two countries exchanged. Ms. Nielsen announced the Migrant Protection Protocols during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee five days before Christmas.

And over the past week, negotiators failed to persuade Mexico to accept a “safe third country” treaty that would have given the United States the legal ability to reject asylum seekers if they had not sought refuge in Mexico first.

It was unclear whether Mr. Trump believed that the agreement truly represented new and broader concessions, or whether the president understood the limits of the deal but accepted it as a face-saving way to escape from the political and economic consequences of imposing tariffs on Mexico.

Having threatened Mexico with an escalating series of tariffs — starting at 5 percent and growing to 25 percent — the president faced enormous criticism from global leaders, business executives, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and members of his own staff that he risked disrupting a critical marketplace.

After nine days of uncertainty, Mr. Trump backed down and accepted Mexico’s promises.

Posted on

New Poll Shows Five Democrats Would Beat Trump

A new national poll by Ipsos/Reuters shows several Democratic candidates beating Donald Trump in hypothetical head-to-head matchups:

A new national poll by Ipsos/Reuters shows several Democratic candidates beating Donald Trump in hypothetical head-to-head matchups:

Biden 47% (+13)
Trump 34%

Sanders 44% (+9)
Trump 35%

Warren 40% (+4)
Trump 36%

Harris 39% (+3)
Trump 36%

Buttigieg 37% (+2)
Trump 35%

Click the link to see much more of the results.

I know it’s waaaaaay early, but I always find it interesting to see what folks might be thinking.

In truth, the next real shakeup will be the first Democratic debates on June 26/27.

Will anyone make a gaffe or suddenly have a shining moment?

Posted on

Kirsten Gillibrand Serves Drinks At Iowa Gay Bar For Pride Weekend

Click to enlarge pic (image via Twitter/SenGillibrand)

New York Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand dropped by local gay bar The Blazing Saddle in Des Moines, Iowa, to help celebrate the city’s Pride weekend.

Via The Hill:

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) served drinks at a gay bar in Des Moines on Friday to kick off Pride Month celebrations in Iowa’s capital city this weekend. The 2020 hopeful was behind the bar at The Blazing Saddle, answering questions about her policies and taking drink orders.

She was also spotted at popular Des Moines-based retailer Raygun with Chasten Buttigieg, the spouse of campaign rival Pete Buttigieg, where she was shopping for rainbow pride gear.

Gillibrand’s stop in Iowa comes days after she released a sprawling LGBT rights agenda, which includes codifying marriage equality, banning “conversion therapy” and rescinding the Trump administration’s policy banning transgender people from serving in the military.

“The LGBTQ community is not a monolith with a finite set of needs, and equal rights and freedom from discrimination should be the bare minimum we accept,” she wrote in a Medium post outlining her plan.

“As president, I will do more than defend LGBTQ rights — I will stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBTQ community in the fight for equality,” she added. “We’re in this together, because LGBTQ rights are human rights.”