Author: Randy Slovacek

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Bloomberg Trolls Trump: “Two Billionaires? Who’s The Second One?”

Talk about next-level trolling. During an interview with CBS News, Mike Bloomberg was asked about his feud with Donald Trump, and whether people want to see two billionaires fighting on Twitter. Bloomberg: “Two billionaires? Who’s the second one?” Bloomberg is a self-made billionaire worth an estimated $56 billion. Trump claims he’s a billionaire, but no one has ever seen any proof of that as he is the first president in over 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns.

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With No Results From Iowa (Still) Candidates Go For Positive Spin

Pete Buttigieg in Iowa (screen capture)
The day after the rather inauspicious ‘first in the nation’ Iowa caucuses, there’s still no results to point to. The app that was created for precincts to report their results failed to work, and so folks in charge attempted to phone-in results to the Democratic party powers-that-be. And the phone lines jammed. The party says the delay is due to “inconsistencies.” So, everyone is waiting…and waiting. As the candidates move on to New Hampshire, Iowa loses its chance to crown an emerging victor and candidates lose their moment in the sun. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to several sources, did well but with no official tallies, they kind of got robbed of their moment. If anything, former Vice President Joe Biden (who we hear might not have had such a great night) lucks out with the waters being so muddied. And, folks took umbrage with Buttigieg telling his supporters “We are going on to New Hampshire victorious!” My take is: Iowa is about setting a narrative, and so since Iowa Dems couldn’t get it done, Mayor Pete was setting his own by putting a positive spin on the night. Let’s face it – a year ago, no one expected Pete to be ranked at the top of the competing Dems. So, if he ends up in first, second or third place in terms of Iowa, he’s certainly surprised a lot of people. Here’s his speech to supporters last night.

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JLo & Shakira Slay But Conservative Hypocrisy Rages

JLo at Super Bowl LIV
So, the world seems split on the much-talked-about J.Lo/Shakira performance during last night’s Super Bowl half-time show. As my Instinct colleague Corey Andrew noted there seems to be some hypocrisy in how Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl performance was viewed differently compared to last night’s Latin spectacular. Click over to Corey’s post to get his full take. There was also some disagreement on why it’s ok for a male rocker to parade around shirtless during his Super Bowl performance but 40+ Latina women being all sexy and empowered seemed to be “too much?” #morehypocrisy https://twitter.com/DaniMontez20/status/1224325624036114433 Conservative folks are apparently fine with their president paying porn stars for sex while his newborn child is at home with Melania, but strong Latinas in revealing stage costumes is a bridge too far…? From professional conservative hypocrite Franklin Graham: “I don’t expect the world to act like the church, but our country has had a sense of moral decency on prime time television in order to protect children. We see that disappearing before our eyes. It was demonstrated tonight in the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show—with millions of children watching. This exhibition was Pepsi showing young girls that sexual exploitation of women is okay. With the exploitation of women on the rise worldwide, instead of lowering the standard, we as a society should be raising it. I’m disappointed in Pepsi and the NFL.”
Shakira at Super Bowl LIV
USA Today wondered, Was it empowering to watch two women of color over 40 performing in an often-provocative way? Or had we reverted back to a pre-#MeToo moment of objectifying women?” Puh-leeze.  I think it was fabulous! In any case, what matters is: gay Twitter was living for the sports ball extravaganza. Take a look at some of the responses: https://twitter.com/gibsonoma/status/1224142709801308162 https://twitter.com/acidhunk/status/1224148498334932996 https://twitter.com/tomastiks/status/1224146705609908224 https://twitter.com/minnascule/status/1224140235023450114 https://twitter.com/karadykers/status/1224144099101548547 https://twitter.com/ylrac/status/1224141059472732160 https://twitter.com/spheven/status/1224152859375214595 https://twitter.com/froodsbag/status/1224142727304175618 https://twitter.com/Brotamins/status/1224146552756699136 https://twitter.com/Chookooloonks/status/1224330254342348800

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RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! Slays The Las Vegas Strip

Opening night cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! (all photos: Denise Truscello)
Some of the most famous drag queens in the world slayed the Las Vegas Strip last week as RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! debuted at Flamingo Las Vegas. The production, which will feature six drags queens each performance from a rotating cast, celebrated its opening night with Derrick Barry, Vanessa “Vanjie” Matteo, Kameron Michaels, Yvie Oddly, Asia O’Hara and Naomi Smalls onstage. Visually stunning sets, jaw-dropping costumes and over-the-top performances sent the audience to their feet several times throughout the premiere performance. The finale of the show pitted Kameron Michaels and Miss Vangie lip-syncing for their lives to “Bang Bang.” The score for the production features RuPaul’s hit songs from the past 11 seasons of Drag Race, plus original show-stopping numbers created especially for this residency. The atmosphere of the show is interactive and encourages audience members’ participation as if they were attending a live episode of the world-famous competition. Opening night attendees were greeted by a special welcome from RuPaul himself, who directed the show with award-winning choreographer and filmmaker Jamal Sims. And in this stage version of the long-running TV show, the Pit Crew boys do more than look pretty – they act as the back-up dancers for the queens. The Las Vegas Pit Crew includes Dallas Eli, AJ Watkins, Nick Lemer, Filip Lacina, Sebastian Gonzalez, and Michael Silas. RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! performs Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 9:30 p.m. Tickets starting at $49, plus applicable tax and fees, are available for purchase at ticketmaster.com/dragracevegas. 

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Final Iowa Poll Cancelled After Polling Mistake

L-R Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders supporters, of course, believe it’s a conspiracy against a Bernie. From USA Today: A highly anticipated release of the Iowa Poll, one of the most respected political surveys in the nation, was canceled Saturday night  ahead of the Iowa caucuses after Pete Buttigieg’s campaign complained that his name had been omitted by a poll interviewer. “The Iowa Poll was founded in 1943,” Carol Hunter, executive editor of the Register, said in an interview Saturday. “It’s built its reputation over many decades for accuracy, and we feel the utmost responsibility to uphold that reputation.” CNN did an internal investigation and found that an operator had enlarged the font on their computer screen, cutting off Buttigieg’s name, which had been at the bottom.  

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Today’s Date Is Super-Extra Special

Today’s the day of the big J.Lo/Shakira concert! I hear in honor of the music, there will also be a big sports ball game. Plus, it’s Groundhog’s Day – and yep, Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring. AND – today’s date is a rare eight-digit palindrome (reads same, forward and backward), 02/02/2020 — the only one of its kind this century: Aziz Inan, a University of Portland (Ore.) professor who has a website chronicling 500 years’ worth of palindromes, tells the Post about today’s rare configuration — where both MM/DD/YEAR and DD/MM/YEAR are palindromes. “The previous eight-digit palindrome like this was 11/11/1111, 909 years ago. We’ll only have to wait another 101 years for 12/12/2121.” P.S. Today is “the 33rd day of the year, which is followed by 333 more days.” (via Axios)

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Bloomberg Would Repeal Tax Cuts For Wealthy

L-R Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump
From the New York Times:

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York unveiled a plan on Saturday that would raise an estimated $5 trillion in new tax revenue from high earners and corporations, a proposal that would almost certainly raise his personal tax bill but is less aggressive than those from his most liberal rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination. The proposal includes a repeal of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for high earners, along with a new 5 percent “surcharge” on incomes above $5 million per year. It would raise capital gains taxes for Americans earning more than $1 million a year and maintain a limit on federal deductions of state and local tax payments set under the 2017 law, which some Democrats have pushed to eliminate.

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DOJ Reveals It Has Dozens Of Trump/Ukraine Emails

The news of the emails came just hours after the Senate voted against any new evidence in Donald Trump’s impeachment trail. Because, of course. CNN reports:

The Department of Justice revealed in a court filing late Friday that it has two dozen emails related to the President Donald Trump’s involvement in the withholding of millions in security assistance to Ukraine — a disclosure that came just hours after the Senate voted against subpoenaing additional documents and witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, paving the way for his acquittal. The filing, released near midnight Friday, marks the first official acknowledgment from the Trump administration that emails about the President’s thinking related to the aid exist, and that he was directly involved in asking about and deciding on the aid as early as June. The administration is still blocking those emails from the public and has successfully kept them from Congress

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News Round-Up: January 31, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Australia’s Coach Clayton (above) shares great legs/butt workouts on his Insta. Why? Because no one ever wrote a song about a small butt. #amiright Follow him on Instagram here. • Press Herald: Jack Phillips, the anti-gay baker from Colorado who took his case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to avoid making a cake for a same-sex couple, just got a book deal for his story. • KIT212: Kenneth has the what’s what in gay rags across the country including the latest issue of DNA Magazine (below). • LA Times: Joshua Ebow, 30, was arrested in connection to a string of brutal anti-gay hate crimes in the Los Angeles area. If convicted he faces up to 14 years in prison. Ebow was charged with punching and stabbing “men who were gay or perceived to be gay.” • USA Today: The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory amid the coronavirus outbreak. The new message is firm: “Do not travel to China.” The alert, which is a Level 4 (the highest level), cites the fact that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency as reason to suspend travel. • Iowa: Donald Trump warned an Iowa crowd in a wild campaign speech Thursday night that global warming activists are out to “kill our cows,” and “that means you’re next.” #srsly

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Senate Votes 51-49 Against Calling Witnesses In Trump Impeachment Trial

Donald Trump
And that’s that…