Author: Randy Slovacek

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Trailer: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’

(Click to enlarge image)

The official trailer for the upcoming Mary Poppins Returns is here, and it’s everything we wanted it to be.

Starring Emily Blunt in the title role, the film also boasts a stellar cast including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, Julie Walters and Dick Van Dyke.

Rob Marshall, who helmed the Disney take on Into the Woods, is on point as director.

The new film features new original songs with music by award-winning composer Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman.

Mary Poppins Returns lands in theaters December 19.

Watch the magic below.

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SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh & His Accuser Will Testify Regarding Sexual Assault Claim

udge Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, will both testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the allegations of sexual assault dating back to when the two were in high school.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh

And its official: Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, will both testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the allegations of sexual assault dating back to when the two were in high school.

From The New York Times:

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, under mounting pressure from senators of his own party, will call President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault before the committee on Monday for extraordinary public hearings just weeks before the midterm elections.

Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, told reporters Monday afternoon that the chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, told senators there would be an “opportunity” for senators to hear from Judge Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, in a public setting where senators would be able to ask questions. Both have said they are willing to testify.

A Senate Republican aide confirmed that it would be on Monday, effectively delaying a planned committee vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, which had been scheduled for this Thursday.

According to reports, Ford has already taken and passed a polygraph test.

I would love to know if Kavanaugh, who has thoroughly denounced the allegations, would be willing to do the same?

Here, via CNN, is the letter Ford sent to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California earlier this summer.

These are the allegations.

Dear Senator Feinstein;

I am writing with information relevant in evaluating the current nominee to the Supreme Court.

As a constituent, I expect that you will maintain this as confidential until we have further opportunity to speak.

Brett Kavanaugh physically and sexually assaulted me during high school in the early 1980’s. He conducted these acts with the assistance of REDACTED.

Both were one to two years older than me and students at a local private school.

The assault occurred in a suburban Maryland area home at a gathering that included me and four others.

Kavanaugh physically pushed me into a bedroom as I was headed for a bathroom up a short stair well from the living room. They locked the door and played loud music precluding any successful attempt to yell for help.

Kavanaugh was on top of me while laughing with REDACTED, who periodically jumped onto Kavanaugh. They both laughed as Kavanaugh tried to disrobe me in their highly inebriated state. With Kavanaugh’s hand over my mouth I feared he may inadvertently kill me.

From across the room a very drunken REDACTED said mixed words to Kavanaugh ranging from “go for it” to “stop.”

At one point when REDACTED jumped onto the bed the weight on me was substantial. The pile toppled, and the two scrapped with each other. After a few attempts to get away, I was able to take this opportune moment to get up and run across to a hallway bathroom. I locked the bathroom door behind me. Both loudly stumbled down the stair well at which point other persons at the house were talking with them. I exited the bathroom, ran outside of the house and went home.

I have not knowingly seen Kavanaugh since the assault. I did see REDACTED once at the REDACTED where he was extremely uncomfortable seeing me.

I have received medical treatment regarding the assault. On July 6 I notified my local government representative to ask them how to proceed with sharing this information . It is upsetting to discuss sexual assault and its repercussions, yet I felt guilty and compelled as a citizen about the idea of not saying anything.

I am available to speak further should you wish to discuss. I am currently REDACTED and will be in REDACTED.

In confidence, REDACTED.

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Oklahoma State Chair For Trump Campaign Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Child Sex Trafficking

Former Oklahoma state Sen. Shortey was sentenced today to 15 years in prison plus 10 years of supervision upon release from prison.
Ralph Shortey

You may recall the sad tale of former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey, who was found in a room at a Motel 6 with a 17-year-old boy on March 9, 2017.

Police found through text messages that Shortey had offered the teen cash in exchange for “sexual stuff.” When police entered the hotel room it reeked of marijuana, according to police reports.

In November of last year, Shortey, who was the Oklahoma state chair for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, agreed to a guilty plea of child sex trafficking.

Text messages were found on Shortey’s phone between him and the underage teen that showed the boy needed money. Shortey apparently replied “I don’t really have any legitimate things I need help right now. Would you be interested in ‘sexual’ stuff?”

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges of child pornography that had been filed against him.

Had he faced all of the charges brought against him in court he could have spent close to the rest of his life in prison.

Shortey was sentenced today to 15 years in prison plus 10 years of supervision upon release from prison.

Shortey was infamous for introducing strange legislation like banning human fetuses in food products (that happens?) and, of course, voting for every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation put before him.

He had been married to his high school sweetheart since 2002. She filed for divorce, and it was granted this past April.

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Sen. Chuck Grassley: Kavanaugh’s Accuser Deserves To Be Heard

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, has announced the accuser of Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, “deserves to be heard.”

Via press release:

Anyone who comes forward as Dr. Ford has deserves to be heard, so I will continue working on a way to hear her out in an appropriate, precedented and respectful manner. The standard procedure for updates to any nominee’s background investigation file is to conduct separate follow-up calls with relevant parties.

In this case, that would entail phone calls with at least Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford. Consistent with that practice, I asked Senator Feinstein’s office yesterday to join me in scheduling these follow-ups. Thus far, they have refused. But as a necessary step in evaluating these claims, I’ll continue working to set them up.

Unfortunately, committee Republicans have only known this person’s identity from news reports for less than 24 hours and known about her allegations for less than a week. Senator Feinstein, on the other hand, has had this information for many weeks and deprived her colleagues of the information necessary to do our jobs.

The Minority withheld even the anonymous allegations for six weeks, only to later decide that they were serious enough to investigate on the eve of the committee vote, after the vetting process had been completed. It’s deeply disturbing that the existence of these allegations were leaked in a way that seemed to preclude Dr. Ford’s confidentiality.

Over my nearly four decades in the Senate I have worked diligently to protect whistleblowers and get to the bottom of any issue. Dr. Ford’s attorney could have approached my office, while keeping her client confidential and anonymous, so that these allegations could be thoroughly investigated. Nevertheless, we are working diligently to get to the bottom of these claims.

As previously reported here, Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual misconduct in high school by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a noted college professor.

In addition to coming forward over the weekend, Ford has apparently submitted to and passed a lie detector test regarding the assault.

Several LGBTI organizations, including the LGBT Bar Association of New York and the National Center for Transgender Equality, called for an investigation into allegations. They also asked that the Senate Judiciary committee hit pause on consideration of Kavanaugh until an investigation has been completed.

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President Of Cuba Announces Support For Marriage Equality

The president of Cuba has announced his support for same-sex marriage in regard to the upcoming referendum on a new constitution which would include new language allowing marriage equality

American LGBTs saw the power of the presidency in action when President Obama announced his ‘evolution’ and support for marriage equality in May 2012.

His statement made an enormous impact on the fight for marriage equality. And three years later, same-sex marriage came to all of the United States.

Now, Cuba is preparing for a nationwide referendum on changing the language in its constitution from defining marriage as a “voluntary union of a man and a woman,” to recognizing marriage as “between two people.”

And the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has publicly announced his support.

According to the BBC, Díaz-Canel said in an interview with Telesur he favors recognizing “marriage between people without any restrictions.”

He added that embracing marriage equality is “part of eliminating any type of discrimination in society.”

The Cuban president acknowledges that Cuba has “been going through a massive thought evolution and many taboos have been broken.”

Much of the credit for Cuba’s ‘evolution’ on marriage is due, in great part, to the efforts of Mariela Castro, daughter of former President Raúl Castro.

Ms. Castro, who leads the Cuban National Centre for Sex Education, has spent years speaking out on behalf of LGBTQ rights. And those efforts are clearly paying off today.

Cuba bears a long, hideous history regarding the treatment of LGBTs.

In 1959, after the rise of Fidel Castro, 25,000 gay men were rounded up and sent to labor camps.

And during the height of the AIDS pandemic, those with HIV were quarantined in government-run sanitariums. That practice ended in 1993.

But even with the country’s “thought evolution,” it comes as no surprise that there are still hills to climb before the vote in the form of Cuba’s religious leaders.

Cuba’s Catholic Church, Assembly of God Pentecostal Church, the Evangelical League and Methodist Church all vigorously oppose the idea of marriage equality.

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Hillary Clinton: I Hoped My Fears About Trump Were ‘Overblown’ – They Were Not

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton has adapted the afterword from the upcoming paperback edition of her book, What Happened, as an essay for The Atlantic.

The former Secretary of State sounds a clarion call about the current assaults on American democracy in the era of Donald Trump.

Clinton begins thusly:

“It’s been nearly two years since Donald Trump won enough Electoral College votes to become president of the United States. On the day after, in my concession speech, I said, “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” I hoped that my fears for our future were overblown.

“They were not.

“In the roughly 21 months since he took the oath of office, Trump has sunk far below the already-low bar he set for himself in his ugly campaign.

“Exhibit A is the unspeakable cruelty that his administration has inflicted on undocumented families arriving at the border, including separating children, some as young as eight months, from their parents. According to The New York Times, the administration continues to detain 12,800 children right now, despite all the outcry and court orders.

“Then there’s the president’s monstrous neglect of Puerto Rico: After Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, his administration barely responded. Some 3,000 Americans died. Now Trump flatly denies those deaths were caused by the storm.

“And, of course, despite the recent indictments of several Russian military intelligence officers for hacking the Democratic National Committee in 2016, he continues to dismiss a serious attack on our country by a foreign power as a “hoax.”

“Trump and his cronies do so many despicable things that it can be hard to keep track. I think that may be the point—to confound us, so it’s harder to keep our eye on the ball. The ball, of course, is protecting American democracy. As citizens, that’s our most important charge. And right now, our democracy is in crisis.”

Clinton goes on to encourage folks to vote, vote, vote this fall and more.

I know there are folks who say Hillary should step out of the public square for good. I, for one, disagree.

Definitely worth your read.

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Go Behind The Scenes Of Upcoming Season 10 Of ‘Will & Grace”

(image via Facebook)

ET gives us our first preview of the upcoming season season 2 (really season 10 if you’re counting) of NBC’s Will & Grace.

Not only do the ‘Fab Four’ – Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally – chat on what we can expect, but we get our first look at former Friends star David Schwimmer, set for several appearances this season as Grace’s new boyfriend, “Noah.”

“Just playing at the level of this cast, who are at the top of their game, it was kind of like this great, wonderful gift,” says Schwimmer, who knows a little something about sitcom ensembles at the “top of their game.”

The first thing we learn is all four are looking at big changes in their personal lives this season.

“Grace” looks to be jumping into the political arena, while “Will” heads to the classroom as a teacher. “Karen” is divorcing her husband, “Stan,” as Sean Haye’s “Jack” is prepping for his walk down the aisle with fiancé, “Estefan.”

And mixed into all those storylines are guest stars Chelsea Handler, Alec Baldwin, Jon Cryer, Minnie Driver and hunky Matt Bomer. And don’t forget “America’s sweetheart” and Olympic bronze medalist, Adam Rippon, set to make a cameo.

But wait – there’s more!

The show shared an exclusive scene from the new season that apparently takes place after the wedding of Grace’s dad (played by Alan Arkin) and Will’s mother (the always brilliant Blythe Danner).

The scene opens with Jack and Karen having a hilarious kiki over drinks, remember the senior couple exchanging marriage vows.

“The look on Will and Grace’s face when his mother and her father said, ‘I do’ was priceless,” laughs Karen. “It was like, it was like…what was it like? Oh, it was like that.”

Cut to shell-shocked Will and Grace sitting stoically at the bar. Watch below.

Will & Grace premieres Thursday, Oct. 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

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Podcast: Cynthia Nixon’s Gubernatorial Race Comes To An End, Emmy Awards For LGBTs

In this week’s podcast: While ‘Sex and the City’ star Cynthia Nixon fell short in her bid to become the Democratic nominee for governor in New York state, she did change the election’s trajectory. Plus…

• A Pennsylvania university will not let a gay man take his last two classes for his degree.

• A new study shows same-sex couples are getting married at an older age than heterosexuals.

• RuPaul and the Fab Five celebrated at this year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report.

Hit the play button below. AND – don’t forget to share 🙂

Continue reading “Podcast: Cynthia Nixon’s Gubernatorial Race Comes To An End, Emmy Awards For LGBTs”

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Supreme Court Nominee’s Accuser Comes Forward

It was revealed this past Wednesday that Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, has been accused of sexual misconduct back in his high school days. Now, the accuser has come forward - Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor who's been widely published in academic journals.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh

It was revealed this past Wednesday that Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, has been accused of sexual misconduct back in his high school days.

Now, the accuser has come forward – Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor who’s been widely published in academic journals.

According to reports, she told a therapist about the incident in 2012.

And, she’s apparently taken and passed a lie detector test about the alleged incident.

From the Washington Post:

Speaking publicly for the first time, Ford said that one summer in the early 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” Ford alleges — corralled her into a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers at a house in Montgomery County..

While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.

“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” said Ford, now a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

Ford said she was able to escape when Kavanaugh’s friend and classmate at Georgetown Preparatory School, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them, sending all three tumbling. She said she ran from the room, briefly locked herself in a bathroom and then fled the house.

Ford said she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband. The therapist’s notes, portions of which were provided by Ford and reviewed by The Washington Post, do not mention Kavanaugh’s name but say she reported that she was attacked by students “from an elitist boys’ school” who went on to become “highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.” The notes say four boys were involved, a discrepancy Ford says was an error on the therapist’s part. Ford said there were four boys at the party but only two in the room.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations as has Mark Judge, the ‘friend’ identified by Ford.