Author: Randy Slovacek

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Parler’s Popularity Plummets With ‘No Libs To Own’

(MAGA hat in shadows – photo: R Nial Bradshaw/LLC license)
Parler, the conservative/uncensored alternative to Twitter, is having some issues after breaking out of the gate to much fanfare. The new social media platform was the shizzle for a second as it was the most downloaded app in the US in the beginning of November. A month later, the app had fallen to #587 according to App Annie.
(screen capture via App Annie)
From Vice:

A month later, the app’s popularity has plummeted as downloads and daily active user numbers have fallen off dramatically — and now even some of the most influential figures in the QAnon community are criticizing it.

The company announced on Nov. 12 that its membership had almost doubled since the election a week earlier, from 4.5 million to 8 million.

But once people got there, they found that it wasn’t really much fun.

The platform bills itself as “a non-biased, free speech social media focused on protecting user’s rights,” but in reality, it has become an echo chamber of right-wing ideologies and extremist views. Many conservatives have grown tired of Parler because there’s no one with an opposing point of view to argue with.

Additionally, there’s a reported influx of pornography because the app’s lax moderation policies make it easy for adult entertainment folks to bombard the users there.

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Country Music Superstar Charley Pride Dead At 86 From COVID

Charley Pride (image via publicist)
Charley Pride, whose rich baritone voice and impeccable song-sense altered American culture, died Saturday, December 12, 2020, in Dallas, Texas of complications from Covid-19 at age 86. Born a sharecropper’s son in Sledge, Mississippi, on March 18, 1934, Pride emerged from Southern cotton fields to become country music’s first Black superstar and the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. “No person of color had ever done what he has done,” said Darius Rucker in the PBS American Masters film Charley Pride: I’m Just Me. Pride was a gifted athlete who at first thought baseball would be his path from poverty, labor, and strife. But his musical acumen was more impressive than his pitching arm or his hitting skills, and he emerged as one of the most significant artists at RCA Records, with chart-topping hits including “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’,” “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” and “Mountain of Love.”

He won the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1971, its top male vocalist prize in 1971 and 1972, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. His final performance came on November 11, 2020, when he sang “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’” during the CMA Awards show at Nashville’s Music City Center with Jimmie Allen, a modern-day hitmaker who counts Pride among his heroes. Charley Frank Pride was not the first Black artist to make important contributions to country music — DeFord Bailey was a star of the Grand Ole Opry from 1927 through 1941 — but Pride was a trailblazer who emerged during a time of division and rancor. After a stint in the Army, time working at a Missouri smelting plant, and some unsuccessful attempts to break into big-league baseball, he came to Nashville in 1963 and made demonstration recordings with help from manager Jack Johnson.

In 1967, Pride’s recording of “Just Between You and Me” broke into country’s Top Ten, and Pride quit his job as a smelter. Iron ore was behind him, and platinum records lay ahead. Between 1967 and 1987, Pride delivered 52 Top 10 country hits (including 29 number ones), was honored with Grammy awards, and became RCA Records’ top-selling country artist. His musicality opened minds and superseded prejudice. “We’re not color blind yet, but we’ve advanced a few paces along the path and I like to think I’ve contributed something to that process,” Pride wrote in his memoir.

(via press release)

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#TrumpMeltDown Trends As Donald Rants

Donald Trump

Donald Trump was apparently so upset the Supreme Court didn’t hand him the election (as he’d planned) that he refused to come down to his own White House holiday party superspreader event. But he did make time for a Twitter rant…because of course. It’s worth pointing out that Team Trump lost dozens and dozens of baseless lawsuits in trying to steal the election. He lost in federal courts, appellate courts, and now the Supreme Court wouldn’t even let his peeps in the door. He lost to conservative, Republican-appointed judges, he even lost to judges he appointed. It’s time, Donnie. It’s time to find some dignity. #TrumpMeltDown quickly began trending on Twitter.

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Supreme Court Rejects Texas AG’s Attempt To Undo 2020 Election

Fifty-four percent of Americans believe Donald Trump should be impeached

Fifty-four percent of Americans believe Donald Trump should be impeached The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a bid from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to nullify the ballots of millions of voters in four battleground states that went in favor of President-Elect Joe Biden. From the Washington Post:

The court’s unsigned order was short: “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.”

Trump, who has appointed three of the court’s nine members, has long viewed the Supreme Court as something of an ace-in-the-hole, and called for the justices to display “courage” and rescue him in post-election litigation.

Just about every legal expert with two brain cells to spark together predicted this would be the outcome for Paxtons’ woeful attempt to curry favor with Trump. Many of the 100+ Republican members of Congress who publicly supported the woeful attempt have said off the record that they knew the lawsuit wouldn’t go anywhere but they felt it was a “loyalty test” to the Trumpster and wanted to avoid any future fire from the Donald. Paxton is currently under federal investigation himself, and many say he was trying to finagle a presidential pardon with his leg humping.

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Gus Kenworthy’s New LinkedIn Pic Breaks The Internet

Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy posted a photo on his Instagram while mentioning he’s looking to update his LinkedIn account and needed new resume pics. Umm…woof.  In the photo, snapped by photog Brian Kaminski, Gus is resting in repose in a pair of short shorts, washboard abs on display along with the perfect amount of fur. The pic was accompanied by the tongue-in-cheek caption, “My friend @briankaminski was kind enough to come over yesterday and take some pictures for my LinkedIn.” Can I just say, “You’re hired, Gus!” Kaminski also shared a pic from the shoot teasing there are more to come.

 

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A post shared by Brian Kaminski 📷 (@briankaminski)

Gus has been keeping a lower profile on social media during the pandemic than in prior years. In April, he shared that the isolation of coronavirus lockdown had taken some toll on his mental health. At the same time, he announced he was doing personalized greetings for fans in order to raise money for first responders in the health crisis. In December 2019, the Olympic silver medalist announced he was switching from Team USA to Team Great Britain (he was born in England) with the hopes of representing the United Kingdom in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Clearly, Gus is keeping in top-shape. Of course, there was that trip to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes back in September… 😉

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News Round-Up: December 11, 2020

Rita Moreno celebrates her 90th birthday today

Michael and I with living legend Rita Moreno who turns 89 today (photo: Denise Truscello)
Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: Todd Gloria made history as he was sworn in as San Diego’s mayor Thursday, becoming the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community and first person of color to hold the post on anything but an interim basis. San Diego becomes the largest city in the nation with an out gay man as mayor. • KIT212: Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in LGBTQ publications includes an article in MetroWeekly about gay adult performer Billy Santoro admitting he faked a suicide attempt (below) after backlash for racist social media posts.
Billy Santoro (via husband, Gage Santoro/Instagram)
• Gay Star News: The parliament for the isolated Asian country Bhutan, located in the Himalayas, has approved a bill decriminalizing gay sex. • BosGuy: It’s Furry Friday over at the Boston-based gay blog. Yay! Find more furballs here.
(via BosGuy)
• HuffPost: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) introduced legislation in the House on Thursday that would bar schools from receiving federal funding if they allow transgender girls and women and non-binary people to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identities. The bill was immediately denounced by transgender activists and allies who labeled the legislation “blatantly transphobic.” • Gr8terDays: The Hollywood throwback Instagram account highlights celebrity birthdays like living legend and EGOT-winner Rita Moreno, who turns 89 today. The lead photo with the iconic star and hubby Michael was taken at Nevada Ballet’s annual gala last year. We asked if we could pose as her back-up dancers Tiger and Duff from her film, The Ritz.

 

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A post shared by Gr8erDays (@gr8erdays)

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TN Lawmaker Called COVID Reporting ‘Sensationalized,’ Now Hospitalized With Virus

Tennessee state Rep. David Byrd (via Facebook)
Asking friends for their prayers via Facebook, Tennessee state Rep. David Byrd (R-Waynesboro) says he may soon be placed on a ventilator due to COVID-19. The Republican state lawmaker was hospitalized over the weekend with pneumonia and his oxygen levels are reportedly low. “I really need a miracle today!!” Byrd wrote on Facebook. “My doctor said if my oxygen level doesn’t improve then he has no choice but to put me on a ventilator. So please pray that God will breathe His healing spirit into my lungs!!” According to The Tennessean, Byrd was seen on the floor of the state House during a caucus meeting not wearing a face mask on November 24. Shortly before that, he hosted a dinner at a restaurant in his district for dozens of GOP colleagues, again with no mask in sight. It’s worth noting that in June Byrd voted in support of a House resolution stating that “mainstream media has sensationalized the reporting on COVID-19 in the service of political agendas.” And there you have it.

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Joe Biden/Kamala Harris Named TIME’s Person Of The Year

TIME named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as its Person of the Year. From the profile:

Biden had the vision, set the tone and topped the ticket. But he also recognized what he could not offer on his own, what a 78-year-old white man could never provide: generational change, a fresh perspective, and an embodiment of America’s diversity.

For that, he needed Kamala Harris: California Senator, former district attorney and state attorney general, a biracial child of immigrants whose charisma and tough questioning of Trump Administration officials electrified millions of Democrats.

The Vice President has never before been a woman, or Black, or Asian American. “I will be the first, but I will not be the last,” Harris says in a separate interview. “That’s about legacy, that’s about creating a pathway, that’s about leaving the door more open than it was when you walked in.”

In an age of tribalism, the union aims to demonstrate that differences don’t have to be divides.

Additionally, Dr. Anthony Fauci and frontline health workers were named 2020 Guardians of the Year along with Racial Justice Organizers. Lebron James is the 2020 Athlete of the Year, Eric Yuan was named Businessman of the Year, and pop group BTS was honored as Entertainer of the Year,