Author: Randy Slovacek

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Out Music: Tegan And Sara ‘Make You Mine This Season’

Check out the new single from out pop duo Tegan and Sara, “Make You Mine This Season,” featured on the upcoming soundtrack for the Hulu Original romantic comedy, Happiest Season. According to the film’s official synopsis, “A young woman plans to propose marriage to her girlfriend while attending her family’s annual holiday party. At the party, she realizes her girlfriend hasn’t come out to her conservative parents yet.” The TV movie, which stars Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen, debuts exclusively in the U.S. on Hulu on November 25th. Tegan and Sara’s euphoric, upbeat synthpop track sounds like a perfect fit for a queer holiday rom-com.

You’re the only girl I’ve got on my list I’ll write your name, I know it’s foolish But I chase the feeling ‘cus you keep me dreaming That I could make you mine this season

“For all types of families, music matters more during the holidays than any other time of year,” says soundtrack producer Justin Tranter. “To be given the honor to help create a holiday soundtrack that everyone can enjoy but celebrates LGBTQ talent is an actual dream come true for me! There are LGBTQ artists and/or songwriters on every original song.”

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Pete Buttigieg Shares How Attending A Baseball Game Changed His Life

L-R James Corden, Pete Buttigieg (image via The Late Late Show)
One of the things to come out of this election cycle that I’ll long appreciate is the emergence of former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg onto the national stage. Over the past year and a half, Buttigieg demonstrated how a mayor of a mid-sized city can show up and go toe-to-toe with not only experienced political candidates but also the press (Fox News, I’m looking at you). Last night, Mayor Pete made an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden where he addressed the state of the election cycle (“It’s all going to come down to getting out the vote”) but also offered a positive view on the resiliency of the American people. “We have to find a way to get through this,” said Buttigieg. “This is a country that has been through pandemics, it has been through wars; at one point, half the country broke off and declared war against the other half. And this country still stands. We have got to find a way through this and I believe that starts with electing new leadership.” “Now, we’re also the generation that could blow it,” he added. “That’s part of the reason this election is so high stakes. But if we get it right in the next few years, the 2020s could go down in history as the time America stood up and turned in a better direction. And by the middle of this century could be delivering to humanity something as important as the founding of America itself. I really believe that – if we do the work, and that’s why we’re doing the work.”

And in another segment called “Late Late Show And Tell,” Corden asked Mayor Pete to share something from his home that the general public wouldn’t generally get to see. Buttigieg revealed a red baseball he received on the night of his first date with now-husband Chasten. The couple had attended a baseball game, and the souvenirs were a give-away at the game that night. Later in the date, the couple held hands for the first time. “That moment we held hands was one of the best moments of my life,” shared Buttigieg. “I keep this baseball around because they were giving them out that night. It’s just a reminder of how any given night can change the rest of your life.” At a time when so many politicians and elected officials give us much to be cynical about, I find Buttigieg continually serves up reasons to look for the good in those in public service.

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Low Energy Trump Calls In To ‘Fox & Friends’ As Biden Makes Final GOTV Push

It’s finally Election Day! And according to ABC News, early voting across the country hit record highs as over 97 million Americans cast their vote before today. Prior to this morning, voters had cast more than 70% of the total ballots counted in the 2016 general election, when 166 million Americans voted. In 2016, there were just under 43 million early votes. Former Vice President Joe Biden attended a church service before heading out to final ‘get out the vote’ appearances in Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump called in to his own place of worship – Fox & Friends. Sounding a bit low energy, Trump spoke about how “mean” people had been to him, bragged about the size of his campaign rallies, threw some predictable shade at Biden, and then turned on – of all outlets – Fox News Channel. “Fox has changed a lot,” whine Trump. “Somebody said ‘What’s the biggest difference between this and four years ago?’ I said Fox, it’s much different, you know. Fox is a much different place in terms of politics.” “In the old days, [Fox] wouldn’t put on sleepy Joe Biden every time he had opened his mouth. They had other networks for that, frankly. It’s a much different operation, I’m just telling you. It’s much different.” Trump also complained about the democratic process itself again moaning that all ballots won’t be counted by the end of tonight. As I’ve reported yesterday, every state has its own rules for cutting off accepting ballots and when to begin processing and counting them. Trump criticized American voters saying, “There’s no reason why they couldn’t put the ballot in 2 weeks earlier.” Some of those ballots include military service members overseas who have little control over when their ballots arrive.

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News Round-Up: November 2, 2020

Mike Taveira (photo: David-Simon Dayan)
Some news items you might have missed: • CNBC: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case concerning the rights of LGBTQ Americans on Wednesday morning in a dispute that advocates are warning could pierce holes in the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Arguments, which will take place just a day after the presidential election, will mark the first major fight to come before Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was sworn in a week ago. • Instinct Magazine: Taiwan held one of the few Pride Parades this year as nearly 130,000 people gathered to march, dance, and visit a Rainbow Market of 100 LGBTQ-owned or supportive businesses/organizations. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, other countries have gone without Pride events this year, but Taiwan has not had a reported diagnosis of COVID-19 since April. In total, the country has had only 554 recorded cases and only seven deaths nationwide. • Out Music: Out recording artist Mike Taveira (top image) offers his new single, “Karma.” An uber-catchy pop-bop groove, Taveira calls the track “the breakup anthem for anyone who feels like their ex has yet received the karma they deserve.” “I do believe in karma and I do believe she is coming,” says Taveira. “She just likes to wait for the perfect timing and I was impatient, which led to the song.”

• The Advocate: Parliament House, the iconic Orlando nightclub that has been serving central Florida’s LGBTQ+ population for 45 years, is closing, though the owners say it’s not a permanent closure. In a Facebook post, they tried to get the money for much-needed renovations, but they sadly couldn’t reach their goal. • The Signorile Report: Michelangelo takes a look at what it will take for a President Joe Biden to get The Equality Act passed in his first 100 days as promised. • KIT212: I’m catching up on Kenneth’s weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications like DNA Magazine’s 250th issue featuring cover model Julian Gabriel (below).

(image via DNA Magazine)

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Judge Rejects Bid By Texas Republicans To Throw Out 127K Drive-Thru Ballots

A high school senior was expelled right before the school year for coming out as gay and proud U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, a George W. Bush appointee, has rejected a bid by Texas Republicans to throw out 127,000 ballots cast in Harris County (Houston) due to lack of standing. The Republicans tried to argue that drive-thru sites (which were approved months ago by the Texas Secretary of State) are less secure than in-person polling sites, but Judge Hanen said, “I ain’t buying that.” If you want to understand why the GOPers wanted the votes tossed – Harris County is 25% Black and 43% Latinx.

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Judge Rules Against Trump Attempt To Delay Counting Nevada Ballots

A District Court judge in Nevada has ruled against the Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans’ attempt to delay counting mail-in ballots in the Democratic stronghold of Clark County. The judge wrote in his decision that the plaintiffs failed to produce any evidence that would precipitate intervening in the counting of votes. From the Nevada Independent:

A District Court judge has again blocked efforts by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and the Nevada Republican Party to delay the counting of mail ballots in populous Clark County over alleged issues with signature verification and observation plans — saying their claims largely lacked evidence or standing necessary for last-minute judicial intervention in the election process.

Carson City District Court Judge James Wilson issued the order Monday morning denying the request to halt mail ballot processing after a lengthy evidentiary hearing held telephonically last week. The decision ensures that Clark County — by far the largest county in the state — will continue its process for counting and processing the record number of mail ballots submitted for the 2020 election, without any delays that could potentially bottleneck results on Election Night.

Longtime Nevada political pundit Jon Ralston issued his prediction earlier this morning that Biden would carry the Silver State by about 4 points mainly due to a 90,000+ lead run up by Democrats in Clark County during early voting and mail-in ballots received.

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Biden Continues To Lead In Final Pennsylvania Poll

This is post is to be considered as an encouragement to make sure you get out and vote and not in any way to lead to complacency. We did that four years ago. Don’t do it again. From Pittsburgh’s CBS News affiliate KDKA:

A new Monmouth University poll has former Vice President Joe Biden with a 5-point to 7-point lead over President Donald Trump among likely voters in Pennsylvania.

According to the poll results, Joe Biden leads President Trump by a 51% to 44% margin among likely voters, if vote turnout is high.

In a low turnout scenario, which could happen if a large number of mail-in ballots were to be rejected, Biden leads President Trump by a 50% to 45% margin among likely voters.

The new survey indicates Biden’s support from young voters and people of color is helping to offset Trump’s gains among senior voters and the most competitive counties in the commonwealth. Also – the ongoing pandemic is affecting the election as more voters trust Biden to handle the coronavirus pandemic than Trump.

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Parody: Randy Rainbow Ponders ‘How Will You Vote?’

Randy Rainbow turns in this musical rumination on which presidential candidate to vote for (hint – yeah, you already know the answer) set to the tune of Enchanted’s “How Will You Know?” Rainbow first ticks off some of Donald Trump’s, umm, qualities:

Well, does he give a flying f**k about whether you live or die? Cover-up his crimes and wish them all away? Does he lock children in cages? Act like Nazis are okay? That’s how you know, that’s how you know that he’s the one.

And then’s there’s his assessment of Joe Biden:

Does he leave you little clues that let you know he’s not insane? Have a plan in place you know he’ll carry through? If he isn’t porkin’ Putin and he pays his taxes, too That’s how you know, that’s how you know he’s the one.

In the end, it all comes down to “One’s an incompetent toddler, the other one’s name is Joe, that’s why it’s Joe – He’s the one.”

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Trump: ‘It’s Terrible When A State Can Tabulate Votes For A Long Time’

Speaking to reporters during a campaign stop in North Carolina, Donald Trump railed against the idea that ballots – specifically mail-in ballots preferred by Democrats in this presidential cycle due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – would be counted past election night. Basically, Trump is arguing that millions of voters be disenfranchised by having their ballot thrown out if it’s not counted by midnight on Election Day. “I think it’s a terrible thing when a state can tabulate ballots for a long time after an election is over. Cause it can only lead to one thing and that thing is very bad. I think it’s a very dangerous terrible thing. And I think it’s terrible when we can’t know the results of an election the night of an election in a modern-day age of computers. Trump also warned that he plans on going into states “the night of, as soon as that election is over, we’re going in with our lawyers.” He added, “If people wanted to get their ballots in, they should have gotten their ballots in long before that.” As everyone knows at this point, every state sets its own rules for when a ballot can be accepted and counted. Some states have laws allowing a ballot to be counted as long as they are postmarked the day of the election and received within a certain number of days. In other states, the ballot has to be received by Election Day. Plus, some states (Arizona, Florida, Nevada) begin processing mail-in ballots before Election Day but others (North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan) won’t begin to tabulate those ballots until November 3. Here’s a breakdown of when key states will begin to start counting ballots as well as their cutoff dates for receiving those mail-in votes.

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WTF: Adult Performer Tweets ‘Covid 19 Isn’t Deadly Enough’

Adult performer Quin Quire
Adult performer Quin Quire
Adult performer Quin Quire (images via screen capture)

Porn performer Quin Quire (nope, never heard of him) raised eyebrows on Sunday when he tweeted his opinion that “Covid 19 isn’t deadly enough.”

Quire’s tweet read, “Covid 19 isn’t deadly enough in my opinion. It’s good to kill off the weak from a population to ensure the BEST survival for the group. If it kills me it’s my time but I’m tired of letting the weakest people tell us how to live our lives. F**k you.”

A few minutes later, he followed that up with, “Meditate on, and accept the idea of your own death. Your life will be better for it. Happy #DayoftheDead.”

For those who don’t know, Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday recognized on November 1 and encourages remembering friends and family who have died. How Quire conflated remembering those who have passed with giving a thumbs up to the coronavirus isn’t clear.

It’s notable that Quire limited replies to the original tweet to people he mentioned in the tweet. Of course, he didn’t mention anyone in particular in the message.

The Twitterverse wasn’t sure if Quire, who refers to himself as an “adult film star since ’12,” might have been hacked, was serious in his messaging, maybe having a bad reaction to medications, simply cold-hearted, or just looking for attention.

(h/t Boy Culture)