Author: Randy Slovacek

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Mike Bloomberg Building ‘Parallel, Unofficial Party Structure’

Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg (image via campaign)
Axios took a deep dive into how billionaire Mike Bloomberg is putting his money where his mouth is in terms of building a huge campaign operation as he runs for the Democratic nomination for president.

The big picture: Bloomberg’s campaign has repeatedly said it will spend “whatever it takes” to defeat President Trump. There’s nothing stopping Bloomberg from topping $2 billion.

    • With 2,100 paid staff, Bloomberg has three times as many as Trump, five times as many as Joe Biden and more than twice as many as Elizabeth Warren, according to data the campaigns provided to Axios.
    • He pays his staff more than any other 2020 Democrat’s campaign and offers housing if they have to move to New York City, according to a campaign official.

By the numbers: In just over a month, Bloomberg spent more than the top 2020 contenders spent for the whole final quarter of 2019 combined, according to Federal Election Commission data. He also outspent the entire RNC and DNC.

(image via Axios)
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News Round-Up: February 7, 2020

Anthony Varrechia (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Like a LOT of folks, I find designer Anthony Varrecchia (above) to be sooo sexy. I’ve been meaning to point out, by the way, that I try to feature a wide range of InstaHunks – younger, older, muscular, beefy, bear-y, all races…Someone made a remark to me a few months ago on my ‘lack of diversity’ in the choices of eye-candy and I was like…whaaaat? • NY Times: Just hours after Donald Trump had Lt. Colonel Alex Vindman escorted from the White House, Trump has fired Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union. Both testified in the House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine. • New Hampshire: Two new polls show Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg leading the pack in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. A new NBC News/Marist poll finds Sanders gets support from 25 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State, while Buttigieg gets support from 21 percent. The Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll puts the two even closer with Sanders at 24 percent and Buttigieg at 23 percent. • Courthouse News: At a record 20.4 million voters, California officials announced Thursday over 80% of the state’s eligible voters are registered to vote in next month’s Super Tuesday primary – the highest rate for a presidential primary since 1952. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla says there are currently over 3 million more registered voters compared to a similar point in the 2016 presidential election. • Washington Post: Just days after the earth saw its warmest January on record, Antarctica has broken its warmest temperature ever recorded. A reading of 65 degrees was taken at Esperanza Base along Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula on Thursday, making it the ordinarily frigid continent’s highest measured temperature in history. • ABC News: In a rare dissent within party ranks, Republican Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont said during a news conference that he believes Donald Trump abused his power and shouldn’t be in office. He added the U.S. Senate should have been allowed to hear more from witnesses who could have provided evidence about the charges against Trump. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in local gay rags across the country, like Ben McLaughlin and Lee Gonzalez on the cover of Chicago’s GRAB Magazine.

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Impeachment Witness Lt. Colonel Vindman Escorted From White House

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman

NBC News is reporting Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified during the House impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, was escorted from the White House Friday afternoon.

“LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” his attorney David Pressman said in a statement. “The truth has cost LTC Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy.”

Pressman added that, “the most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit” had “decided to exact revenge” on Vindman.

Vindman had, as part of his duties, listened in on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy, which was at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

The Washington Post first reported on efforts by the White House to push out Vindman, citing two people familiar with the move, as part of a broader targeting by Trump of perceived enemies in the wake of his acquittal in the Senate after a two-week trial. The Post reported that Vindman would be reassigned to a job at the Defense Department.

Other than to embarrass him, there was no reason to “escort” a decorated Army officer honored with a Purple Heart medal after being injured in Iraq in 2004. In his opening statement during his appearance before Congress, Vindman included an emotional message to his father. “You made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” said Vindman. “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.”

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Drunk Student Arrested After Homophobic, Racist Classroom Rant

Dayton Kingery on left (image via screen capture)
When a student at Chapman College in California went on a drunken homophobic, racist rant in an economics class Tuesday morning his fellow students took it upon themselves to eject him from the space. Dayton Kingery, 21, was captured on video that was shared on Twitter announcing he’d been “drinking Bacardi all day” before declaring “I f*cking hate n*ggers.” In the video clip, another student can be heard to say “You should probably chill, buddy.” After repeating the statement a few more times, he shifted his focus to queer people telling the class “I f*cking hate f*ggots, too – how about that?” At that point, the students in the room were done. One classmate informed Kingery, “All right, you’ve got to get out of here, bro.”

In a second clip also posted to Twitter, Kingery is seen arguing with someone in the room, saying, “You don’t know who I am, guy. I’m not kidding … I’ll bury you. I’m worth, like, $50 million.” He then turned to another student in the classroom, poked him and said, “This f*ggot right here.” That student, having had enough of the intoxicated tirade, can be seen standing up to Kingery telling him, “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me.” At that point, he’s ejected from the classroom but is handed the wrong backpack. Kingery throws that backpack down the hall and then proceeds to stomp on it yelling, “I hope your laptop was in there, you f*cking f*ggot.”

When campus security was called to the scene, the 21-year-old ended up in a violent scuffle with the officer. When officers from the Orange Police Department attempted to arrest him, he resisted resulting in the cops placing him in a hobble restraint in order to remove him from campus. Kingery was arrested and charged with suspicion of making criminal threats, felony vandalism (for destroying the laptop in the backpack), and elder abuse for injuring the campus security guard who was over 65-years-old.
Dayton Kingery (mug shot via Orange Police)
The university issued a statement on Thursday that Kingery was no longer a student at the school. The statement posted to Twitter from Chapman President Daniele Struppa read, in part, “Racist and homophobic conduct will not be tolerated on this campus, and we took decisive and swift action.” “A situation such as this is difficult, it affected many and we want to provide the needed support as we all move through this difficult time.”

Struppa also expressed her “deepest apologies to the Black and LGBTQIA communities who were specifically targeted” during the drunken rant. Here’s the report by CBS Los Angeles:

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Virginia Becomes 1st State In The South To Legalize LGBTQ Protections

While The Equality Act, which would add LGBTQ non-discrimination protections to existing federal laws, languishes in limbo due to the Republican-controlled Senate, lawmakers in Virginia decided to move forward with pro-LGBTQ legislation on their own. On Thursday, the Virginia House of Delegates approved House Bill 1663, also known as the Virginia Values Act, by a vote of 59-35. HB 1663 will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s non-discrimination laws. Prior to the vote, openly gay State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), who introduced the Virginia Values Act in the House, told his colleagues the bill does not “interfere with anybody’s religious freedom. What it does is punish discrimination.” Earlier in the day, the state Senate approved its version of the legislation by a vote of 30-9. The Virginia Values Act will require employers with six or more employees to comply with the new law. Additionally, all school board employees and all state government employees will be protected under the new law. Similar legislation had been passed by the state Senate in recent years but was repeatedly blocked by anti-equality lawmakers in the House of Delegates. Upon regaining control of the General Assembly last November, Democrats announced the legislation would be a top priority. The Washington Blade reports Gov. Ralph Northam has indicated he will sign the legislation into law once the Senate and House reconcile their versions of the bill. With his signature, Virginia will become the first state in the South to include sexual orientation and gender identity in statewide non-discrimination laws. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law reports the new legislation could provide equal treatment for 307,000 LGBTQ Virginians. Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement, “Today, history was made in Virginia, and LGBTQ Virginians are one step closer to being protected from discrimination simply because of who they are or whom they love.” (source: Washington Blade)

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News Round-Up: February 6, 2020

Shania Twain and her boys (photo: Denise Truscello)
Some news items you might have missed: • Las Vegas: Shania Twain (above), the top-selling female country artist of all time, has announced additional dates for her Las Vegas residency show, “Let’s Go!” at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Bonus – there are shirtless boys in the production as well 🙂 • Advocate: Pose star Billy Porter has clapped back at the homophobes who launched a petition against Sesame Street after it was announced the openly gay actor will be appearing on the long-running children’s show.  “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it,” Porter said, according to Page Six. “Like, what about me singing with a penguin has anything to do with what I’m doing in my bedroom?” • Newsweek: New poll results from Morning Consult released Monday showed all five of the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination (Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, Warren) defeating President Donald Trump in hypothetical match-ups. • SNL: Don’t forget it’s RuPaul Week on Saturday Night Live! Check out the teaser video for Ru’s hosting gig this Saturday.

• Charisma News: Virulently anti-LGBTQ activist Franklin Graham is taking legal action against the 7 venues in the UK that canceled his booked appearances after public outcry over his hate speech. • Politico: Andrew Yang’s campaign fired dozens of staffers this week after an abysmal finish in the Iowa caucuses, according to four former staffers who were let go. Yang finished sixth in Iowa, receiving just 1 percent of delegates, according to the most recent count. • Houston Chronicle: The Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBT group, will not have a booth at the Texas GOP Convention yet again. At a recent meeting, the State Republican Executive Committee moved to deny the group the booth. The group has applied for a spot at the event for at least 20 years without success. • World Of Wonder: In his upcoming book Name Drop, Ross Mathews shares a ‘Mean Girls’ moment from 2007 when The View host Barbara Walters gestured to Mathews backstage at the gabfest and barked, “Who is he and why is he here?” • The Informant: Jan Peter Meister, a 52-year-old registered sex offender, was arrested after telling federal authorities he drunkenly left a threatening voicemail at Congressman Adam Schiff’s Washington, D.C. office after watching Fox News and googling the congressman’s phone number: “I’m gonna fucking blow your brains out you fucking piece of shit.” Doesn’t he sound nice?

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Kevin Hart Finally Gets It: “Oh Sh*t – I Did F*ck Up”

Kevin Hart (screen capture)
You may recall the kerfuffle that occurred when, shortly following the announcement he would host the 2019 Oscars, Kevin Hart experienced enormous backlash after decade-old anti-gay tweets surfaced. Eventually, Hart stepped down from the hosting gig. In his recent Netflix docuseries, Don’t F**k This Up, Hart shared with the TV audience, “I’m a firm believer in laying in the bed that you made. If there’s something that you did, then you did it. You know, there’s no wiggle room around it. You can address it, and then you can move on.” Which brings us to a new interview with Men’s Health Magazine wherein Hart admits he didn’t handle the scandal well.

“With the whole Oscars thing, there was a big gap between what I thought the problem was versus what the problem really was,” he says. He got angry, reacting as though the only problem was that people were calling him homophobic, which he feels certain he’s not.

“I got ten years where I made sure not to joke or play in the way that I did back then because it was a problem,” he says. “I don’t care if you’re gay or not gay. I’m a people person. I’m going to love you regardless.”

But now he sees a layer that he overlooked at the time—that he missed a chance to condemn violence in every shape and form to anyone for being who they are. “It wasn’t until close friends like Wanda Sykes, Lee Daniels, and Ellen [DeGeneres] talked to me and explained what they didn’t hear me say that I understood.

Then I was like, ‘Oh, shit — I did fuck up.’ ”

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Buttigieg On Homophobic Caucus Voter: ‘My Love Is The Same As Her Love For Those She Cares About’

Pete Buttigieg on The View
During today’s episode of The View, Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg responded to a video clip of an Iowa caucus-goer who tried to rescind her vote for him after learning he’s gay. Hello? Where has she been? Asked what he thought after watching the clip (“I guess she didn’t get the memo”) Buttigieg said, “I’m running to be her president, too.” He added, “I wish she was able to see that my love is the same as her love for those that she cares about.” Watch Mayor Pete’s remarks below.

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Uber Driver Calls Police After Telling Gay Dads Crying Infant “Needed His Mother”

In a recent Twitter thread, gay dad James Moed shared a disturbing incident where an Uber driver apparently called the police after telling Moed and his husband their crying baby “needed his mother.” Moed and his husband were staying at the Marriott Marina while traveling in San Diego last week. The couple, who live in the UK, was awakened by a knock at their hotel room door at 1:30 a.m. At the door were police officers who demanded to see the men’s identification. According to the Twitter thread, Moed shared “It turns out the @Uber driver who had taken us back to the hotel had called the cops – accusing us of…child trafficking? Endangerment?” Apparently, during their Uber ride to the hotel, their driver told the couple their crying infant “needed his mother.” Even though the men explained the child has two dads, the driver “didn’t back down.” The police departed peacefully after the couple showed their identification including their son’s passport to prove they weren’t ‘child trafficking.’ But even after the officers left the hotel, the men were shaken. “Stayed awake freaking out,” wrote Moed. “What if we hadn’t had his passport? The cops had been less agreeable? Where can my #queerfamily travel safely?” The father shared that he had contacted Uber about their driver’s behavior and the app’s algorithm replied with a form letter and a refund. Insisting he didn’t want a refund, he says he pressed on asking for “proof that you keep #LGBTQ riders safe from homophobic drivers.” A few hours later, Moed added that he had spoken to Uber support requesting an “apology from the driver (not his dismissal)” as well as evidence of LGBTQ sensitivity training. So far, the couple hasn’t indicated if they’d heard back from Uber. https://twitter.com/jamesmoed/status/1224911775608594432 https://twitter.com/jamesmoed/status/1224911777139392522 https://twitter.com/jamesmoed/status/1225151863105957888 We’d like to hear from you, readers – have any of you had a homophobic experience while using Uber? Let us know in the comments below. (Image by why kei on Unsplash)