Category: News

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Trump Supporter Sentenced To Prison For Stealing Mother’s Social Security Checks

Karyn Turk (image via Instagram)
Trump supporter, self-styled conservative pundit and pseudo-socialite Karyn (with a ‘K’) Turk was sentenced to one month in prison this week after pleading guilty to stealing her elderly mother’s Social Security benefits, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Prosecutors brought charges on the 47-year-old former Mrs. Florida after she pocketed benefit checks that should have gone to the nursing home that was providing care and support for her mother, who was suffering from dementia. The mother has since died. The nursing home, the mother’s court-appointed guardian and the guardian’s lawyers are suing Turk in separate cases in order to collect money they say she owes them as the representative of her mother’s estate. The total amount owed according to the three lawsuits is more than $320,000. The day Turk was sentenced to federal prison and five months of house arrest, the former beauty queen shared a snap on Instagram taken in front of Donald Trump’s beloved Mar-a-Lago.

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News Round-Up: January 10, 2020

Burt Ward as Robin and Adam West as Batman (promo photo via ABC)
Some news items you might have missed: • PageSix: Burt Ward, recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his role of ‘Robin’ (above) in the campy 1960s series Batman, says ABC advised him to take pills to reduce the bulge in his Robin trunks. #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm • Lambda Legal: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in Roe & Voe v. Esper that halted efforts by the Trump administration to discharge members of the Air Force because they are living with HIV. The panel of three judges wrote, “Any understanding of HIV that could justify this ban is outmoded and at odds with current science. Such obsolete understandings cannot justify a ban.” • Deadline: Trevor: The Musical, an acclaimed stage adaptation of the 1994 Oscar-winning short film that gave rise to one of the nation’s most prominent LGBTQ organizations, will make its New York debut this April in an Off-Broadway staging. • CNN: The latest CNN/Des Moines Register polling shows four Democrats closely clustered at the top of the rankings: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (20%), Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (17%), former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (16%) and former Vice President Joe Biden (15%) all cluster tightly at the top of the pack. That’s an increase of 5 points for Sanders and a drop of 9 points for Buttigieg since the last DMR poll in November. • NBC News: After nearly 40 governors agreed to allow refugees in their states, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot became the first governor in the country to refuse to take in refugees today. However, 18 of his 26 Republican counterparts chose to open the door to refugees, much to the surprise of the Trump administration. • USA Today: Brazil’s Supreme Court has reversed a ruling that would have required Netflix to remove a satirical film depicting Jesus as gay. • Out Music: Randy Report favorite Halsey drops her new music video, “You Should Be Sad,” in advance of her third studio album Manic set for release January 17. The video is set at a country-inspired barn dance/rave and features choreographed sequences as Halsey channels her best Shania Twain. Fun clip and visually there’s lots of eye-candy.

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Pelosi Will Send Impeachment Articles To Senate Next Week

L-R Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
The Washington Post reports Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will transmit the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump next week.

As recently as Thursday, Pelosi continued to insist that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should release a resolution laying out rules of a trial before the articles were transmitted.

The crux of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that President Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Pelosi has delayed transmitting the articles for weeks in an effort to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to announce the rules for the impending trial. On Thursday, McConnell told senators they should keep their schedules flexible for the end of next week when they might take up impeachment. In related news, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she is working with a small group of fellow Republican senators towards the goal of ensuring witnesses will be called during the Senate trial.

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Trump’s Own Investigation Into Hillary Clinton Finds ‘Nothing Worth Pursuing’

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
From the Washington Post:

A Justice Department inquiry launched more than two years ago to mollify conservatives clamoring for more investigations of Hillary Clinton has effectively ended with no tangible results, and current and former law enforcement officials said they never expected the effort to produce much of anything.

John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, was tapped in November 2017 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to look into concerns raised by President Trump and his allies in Congress that the FBI had not fully pursued cases of possible corruption at the Clinton Foundation and during Clinton’s time as secretary of state, when the U.S. government decided not to block the sale of a company called Uranium One.

As a part of his review, Huber examined documents and conferred with federal law enforcement officials in Little Rock who were handling a meandering probe into the Clinton Foundation, people familiar with the matter said.

Current and former officials said that Huber has largely finished and found nothing worth pursuing — though the assignment has not formally ended and no official notice has been sent to the Justice Department or to lawmakers, these people said.

Trump stills says “Lock her up” at his current rallies, still pushing the lie.

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News Round-Up: January 9, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • LGBTQ Nation: A priest was removed from ministry after he was caught taking ‘disturbing’ photos of high school wrestlers. A bystander saw the priest taking zoomed-in photos of the young men in their wrestling tights and contacted authorities. • The Advocate: Culture Club frontman Boy George, who was once a pioneer in unconventional gender expression, was called out for  being transphobic after hateful comments regarding respecting people’s pronouns. • NY Daily News: A wacko customer at a Manhattan gay bar mailed a powder-filled envelope with a message reading “It’s called anthrax. Enjoy,” to an employee after he was threatened with a ban from the watering hole, prosecutors charged Monday. Unhinged patron Ameen Keshavjee has allegedly menaced the male employee at Nowhere Bar in the East Village since February. He now faces up to ten years in prison. • Allure Magazine: Emmy Award winner Billy Porter is the first-ever male to grace the cover of Allure Magazine as he stars in their Art of Beauty issue.

• LA Times: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who flirted with the idea of running for president but skipped the 2020 campaign, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination on Thursday. • Arizona Capital Times: Arizona state Senator Sylvia Allen (R) has proposed legislation to remove the word “homosexuality” from all public school teaching materials and to prevent any student below the age of 12 from receiving sex education. • Daily Dog: This beautiful little mama gave birth today to six puppies. How precious is this video?

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Survey: 97 Percent Of CFOs See Economic Downturn In 2020

U.S. economy shrank in Q1 of 2025 due to Trump tariffs

Deloitte’s quarterly survey of nearly 150 chief financial officers shows 97 percent believe that a downturn (recession or slowdown) has already begun or will occur by the end of 2020. At this time last year, 88 percent felt there would be a downturn by December 2020. Today, 43 percent believe consumer spending will be strong in 2020, while last year that number was 54 percent. Only 22 percent say they expect to see strong business spending this year compared with 32 percent who thought spending would be strong in 2020.

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64 Percent Of People In 33 Countries Lack Confidence In Trump

Trump walks past reporters with no comment

Trump walks past reporters with no comment
Donald Trump (image via public domain/White House)
A new survey of 37,000 adults from 33 countries by Pew Research found 64 percent of respondents lack confidence in Donald Trump to do the right thing on the global stage. Only 29 percent said they had confidence in him. In nearly all nations where trends are available, Trump receives lower ratings than his predecessor, Barack Obama. That said, 54 percent reported having a favorable view of the United States as a whole. From Pew Research: “Across the 33 countries surveyed a median of 54% express a favorable opinion of the United States, while 38% have an unfavorable one. Favorable opinion of the U.S. declined dramatically when Trump took office and remains significantly lower than during the Obama era.” Trump’s strongest support came from the Philippines, India, Israel, Kenya, Nigeria and Poland indicating support at 77 percent, 56 percent, 71 percent, 65 percent, 58 percent and 51 percent, respectively. By contrast, only 8% of Mexicans said they were confident in Trump’s ability to handle world affairs.

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Viral Tweet: Young LGBTQs ‘Grow Up Playing A Version Of Ourselves’ To Avoid Prejudice

Alexander Leon (image via Instagram/Gökhan Tanrıöver)
Alexander Leon, an LGBTQ activist and writer at the queer group Kaleidoscope Trust, found a tweet of his go viral when he seemed to crystallize the process young queer people experience regarding identity into just two sentences. “Queer people don’t grow up as ourselves, we grow up playing a version of ourselves that sacrifices authenticity to minimise humiliation & prejudice,” wrote Leon. “The massive task of our adult lives is to unpick which parts of ourselves are truly us & which parts we’ve created to protect us.”

His thread went on to wonder if “being confronted with the need for profound self-discovery” isn’t, in fact, a “gift in disguise. We come out the other end wiser & truer to ourselves.” “All of this is to say – be kind to yourself,” he added. “Discovering who you really are is an enormous task it doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it happen without some hiccups along the way. Be patient, be compassionate, be vulnerable and exist loudly. And most of all – be proud!”

The initial post has been liked 194,000+ times and retweeted 53,000+ times. Folks in the Twitterverse found the message resonated with their own experiences as well. Here are just a few of the comments: “100% spot on. I feel like I’m living my teenage years trying to discover who I am and being comfortable and confident with myself.” “Omg. I’ve never seen someone articulate this so well.” “So completely true, but I’ve never seen or thought it like that in words before. Thank you – from someone who for various reasons has recently had to start from scratch.” “Beautifully put and painfully true.” “Hell, I grew up in a loving home with people who accepted me for being gay but I was playing the role so I can live up to what people think I should be. This tweet hit so close to home. Because you can have loving people in your life but still you play that role.” “Literally what I try to explain to people. You grow up and think you know who you are until you come out and have to go through finding yourself all over again after so many people are already past that point.” “This stopped me in my tracks, the words you used really hit home for me and a lot of people it seems. Gorgeous analysis of why a lot of gay men have identity issues throughout their lives.” Last year, the Trevor Project released its National Survey On LGBTQ Youth Mental Health which showed a majority of young LGBTQs are closeted at some point in their life. That study indicated less than half of LGBTQ youth were out to an adult at school, and 71 percent of young LGBTQs reported feeling sad or hopeless for at least two weeks in the past year. As his tweets went viral, Leon shared he was humbled and overwhelmed by the reaction to his words. He also took the opportunity of increased visibility to call attention to the Australian bushfires which are ravaging his country.

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News Round-Up: January 8, 2020

Australia’s Human Nature (image via Instagram/Denise Truscello)
Some news items you might have missed: • Las Vegas: Australia’s biggest pop group, Human Nature, will be donating 100% of the ticket sales from their January 25 concert at The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip to support victims of the Australian bushfires. • The Advocate: Preparing an end-run around Michigan’s Republican-controlled legislature, activists are getting ready to gather signatures for a ballot initiative that could codify employment and housing protections for LGBTQ residents. • NBC News: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle have announced they “intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent.” The couple says they plan to split their time between the U.K. and North America. • KIT212: Kenneth’s ‘Wrestle Wednesdays’ post might pose a challenge to ‘hockey butt.’ • USA Today: The head of ABC Entertainment confirmed today there will (again) be no formal ‘host’ at this year’s Academy Awards telecast. • Billboard: Check out this month’s edition of Queer Necessities, a monthly LGBTQ-driven playlist (via Spotify) from Billboard Pride catching you up on the latest and greatest bops by queer musicians and fierce allies.

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Trump After Iran Missile Attack: ‘All Is Well!’

Donald Trump addresses the nation after Iran missile attack (screen capture)
“All is well” was the message from Donald Trump after Iran launched more than 12 ballistic missiles at U.S. military bases in Iraq, an attack seen as retribution for the U.S. strike on military commander Qassim Soleimani. According to the New York Times, U.S. and Iraqi officials said there were no deaths from the attacks on bases housing American troops. But Iranian news outlets claimed differently, with some reporting dozens killed. Speaking to the nation this morning, Trump said no Americans or Iraqis were killed in airstrike at the military base in Iraq and Iran appears to be standing down.