Category: News

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Nonpartisan Federal Watchdog Agency Concludes Trump Illegally Withheld Ukraine Aid

From NPR:

A federal watchdog concluded that President Trump broke the law when he froze assistance funds for Ukraine last year, according to a report unveiled on Thursday.

The Office of Management and Budget blocked the Defense Department from spending money designated by Congress on July 25, “pending a policy decision,” according to OMB General Counsel Mark Paoletta. That hold was lifted on Sept. 12.

But a 1974 law that governs budget procedure within the government “does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons,” said Thomas Armstrong, general counsel for the watchdog Government Accountability Office.

The law further designates the ways in which Congress has the power of the purse. Under the Impoundment Control Act, it is illegal for OMB to withhold money that has been appropriated by Congress and signed into law.

If the White House wants to delay or deny funds, it must first alert Congress.

Documents and testimony released during and after House impeachment hearings revealed some administration officials had raised concerns that the Ukraine hold might have violated the law known as the Impoundment Control Act.

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Daily Dog: Ripple The Dog Vs Weatherman

For #ThrowBackThursday: In 2014, Ripple the mastiff was a big hit making a guest appearance (courtesy of the Edmonton Humane Society) during weatherman Mike Sobel’s forecast. Sobel tried to handle both his weatherman duties AND Ripple at the same time. Telling Ripple to “sit” had no effect as the handsome 18-month-old dog kept gnawing at his leash. Watch to see how it ends. p.s. Ripple was adopted the very next day 🙂

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Podcast: YouTube Star Blackmailed, Backstage Rumors At ‘Will & Grace,’ 2020 Oscar Nominations

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • Marriage equality comes to Northern Ireland • A gay conservative student who led a drag queen protest was found dead of suicide just hours later • Blackmail forces a YouTube star to come out • The truth behind rumors of backstage fights at NBC’s ‘Will & Grace’ • And the Oscar nominations are out and pretty much without the gays All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Anti-LGBTQ Adoption Law Passes In Tennessee

New law in Tennessee will allow adoption agencies to turn LGBTQ couples away
Tennessee has the dubious distinction of being the first state in the nation to pass anti-LGBTQ legislation in 2020. By a vote of 20 to 6, the state Senate approved SB 1304 which will allow adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ couples. The Tennessean reports the measure gives protection to all licensed adoption agencies to turn away LGBTQ couples who apply for child placement if doing so would “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.” The law also bans the state from “denying an agency’s license or grant application for public funds because of the group’s refusal to place a child with a family based on religious objections.” Democrat Jeff Yarbro, the Senate minority leader, attempted to amend the bill so it would offer protections and legal immunity only to agencies that don’t receive public funds. But he was unsuccessful. Five Republicans declined to vote on the legislation. Sen. Steve Dickerson, the lone Republican who voted against the measure, argued the bill would negatively impact tourism and tarnish the image of Tennessee. The bill passed in the state House last April. Gov. Bill Lee’s office confirmed the governor would sign the bill as soon as it hits his desk. With his signature, Tennessee will become the ninth state to pass such legislation. Eight other states have passed similar bans since Donald Trump was elected in 2016: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, North Dakota, Virginia, and Mississippi.

The Human Rights Campaign denounced the passage of the hateful bill. “Lawmakers in Tennessee used some of the first minutes of their legislative session to enshrine discrimination into law,” said HRC President Alphonso David in a statement. “These legislators are disregarding the best interests of kids in the child welfare system to create a ‘license to discriminate’ against qualified, loving prospective parents,” added David. “This bill does nothing to improve the outcomes for children in care, shrinks the pool of prospective parents and is a blatant attempt to discriminate against LGBTQ Tennesseans.”

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Pelosi Announces House Managers For Trump Impeachment Trial

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (center)
Update: NBC News reports the House voted 228 to 193 on Wednesday to send the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump to the Senate. One Democrat opposed the resolution — Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, who also voted last month against both articles of impeachment.

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi named the team of House managers this morning tasked with presenting the case against Donald Trump during the impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. From the Washington Post:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped two trusted committee chairmen to lead the team that will make the case in the Senate for President Trump’s removal from office, supported by a relatively small cast of additional impeachment “managers.”

Confirming widespread speculation that swirled for weeks as she held back the articles, Pelosi turned to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) to lead the House team. She made the announcement at a Wednesday news conference after keeping the cast of managers under tight wraps for weeks.

Joining Schiff and Nadler are Democratic Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Val Demings (Fla.), Sylvia Garcia (Tex.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.).

The seven-member team is smaller than the 13-member squad that presented articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate in 1999, reflecting a more tightly controlled approach to the investigation.

Later today, the full House will vote on the team of managers and to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The House managers will then process across the Capitol to hand deliver the articles in person. All of the House managers have extensive backgrounds in law. The only non-lawyer, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, serves on both the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees and was the first woman chief of police in Orlando.

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News Round-Up: January 14, 2020

Ignacio Pérez Rey (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunk: Ignacio Pérez Rey (above), in Madrid, Spain, proves clothes are sexy, smiles are sexy, and Madrid is sexy. #grrr • Bloomberg News: Democratic Senator Tim Kaine says he has enough votes to pass a resolution that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to carry out a military attack against Iran without congressional authorization. Kaine said Tuesday he has 51 “declared votes“ for his resolution including GOP senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Todd Young. • The Gaily Grind: High school freshman Kayla Kenney was expelled from her Christian school after wearing a rainbow sweater while celebrating her 15th birthday with her family at a local restaurant with a rainbow cake. The school seems to have assumed celebrating with rainbows meant the teen was lesbian…? • Los Angeles Blade: Pete Buttigieg attended a primarily black gay fundraiser in Los Angeles at the home of Jordan Fudge, a managing partner of the venture capital firm Sinai Ventures. The event was co-hosted by Empire writer/director Lee Daniels, who called Buttigieg “a candidate that is worthy of serious, serious consideration.” • The Advocate: Tennessee lawmakers have approved a bill that would give faith-based adoption and foster care agencies legal cover to turn away same-sex couples and other prospective parents who offend the agencies’ religious beliefs. The governor has signaled he plans to sign the bill into law. • Netflix: The streaming giant offers this supercut of RuPaul’s most fab performances featured in the new series, AJ and the Queen. While I found parts of the series surprisingly flat and slow, Ru does bring some heat serving up lewks and body as she lip syncs for her life in these drag performances.  

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Giuliani Associate Drops New Evidence In Trump Impeachment

L-R Lev Parnas with Donald Trump
New evidence has come to light related to the impeachment of Donald Trump via the release of notes, text messages and documents on the cell phone of Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. From Politico:

The material released on Tuesday contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and other documents that underscore the close relationship between Parnas and Giuliani, who was actively pursuing an effort last year to push the Ukrainian government to announce investigations targeting Trump’s political rivals. The documents also complicate one of Trump’s oft-stated defenses of his actions toward Ukraine.

A previously undisclosed May 2019 letter from Giuliani to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among the tranche of documents the Democrat-led committee made public on Tuesday.

In the letter, which was obtained from Parnas’ cell phone that was turned over the Intelligence Committee on Sunday, Giuliani asked for a half-hour meeting with Zelensky as the former New York City mayor was pursuing investigations targeting former Vice President Joe Biden — and Giuliani made clear that he was acting with Trump’s “knowledge and consent” and in his capacity as a “personal” attorney for the president.

Trump, though, has stated that he was acting on behalf of the U.S. government when he allegedly pushed for the investigations.

Giuliani specifically said in his letter to the president of Ukraine he wanted the meeting as he acted in “his capacity as personal counsel to President Trump,” not for the United States.

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Out News Anchor Shepard Smith In Talks With MSNBC

Shepard Smith (screen capture)

Former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is reportedly exploring a return to television news.

After months of behind-the-scenes clashes with Fox’s right-wing political personality Tucker Carlson, Smith (who came out in 2017) abruptly announced on October 11 he was leaving the network where he’d worked for 23 years.

In his farewell announcement, he told viewers he was looking to begin a “new chapter,” and it looks like that chapter may take place at Fox News’s competitor, MSNBC.

The Daily Beast reports the 56-year-old out journalist is in talks with MSNBC President Phil Griffin about anchoring a new show at the more liberal-leaning news network once his non-compete clause with Fox expires.

An unnamed insider at MSNBC told The Daily Beast, “it’s unclear what slot he would take, but we’d want him in primetime.”

“We are well aware [Jeff] Zucker [president of CNN] is also pursuing him, as are a number of the networks,” added the source.

One possibility might be the 5 p.m. slot currently held by the lackluster, ratings-challenged MTP Daily currently hosted by Chuck Todd. There are rumors the powers that be might move Todd and his crew to a morning slot.

If Smith does end up at MSNBC he would be joining fellow out journalist Rachel Maddow, who currently hosts the top-rated show on the network.

One wonders, though, if his years at right-leaning Fox News might color how MSNBC’s more liberal audiences connect with the veteran newsman. When Greta Van Susteren left Fox after 14 years for MSNBC, she only lasted six months before the plug was pulled on her new gig, For the Record with Greta.

Wherever he lands, his new network will need to be ready to pony up some heavy-duty duccets as Smith was reportedly earning $15 million a year at Fox News.

You can watch Smith’s goodbye to Fox News below.

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Senate Likely To Begin Trump Impeachment Trial January 21

MSNBC reports Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday that the Senate’s trial of President Donald Trump will likely begin Tuesday.

The announcement comes as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi indicated the House will vote to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate on Wednesday.

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Reports Of Britain’s ‘Most Prolific Rapist’ Sparks Anti-LGBTQ Raids

No more carefree days for serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga (image via Facebook)
I recently reported on Britain’s “most prolific rapist,” Reynhard Sinaga, who was sentenced to life in prison for drugging and raping nearly 200 men. Videos found on two cell phones revealed the 36-year-old Ph.D. student had picked up primarily straight men outside nightclubs, offered them drinks spiked with date rape drug GHB police suspect, and then sexually assaulted the comatose men. Most of his victims had no idea they’d been raped until authorities showed them the video evidence. While Sinaga won’t be drugging any more victims as he spends the rest of his life in prison, it seems his crimes will continue to reverberate and affect even more people.
Reynard Sinaga (mugshot via Greater Manchester Police)
Citing the media attention focused on Sinaga, the mayor of his hometown in Indonesia has called for a new wave of harassment against LGBTQ people. The Telegraph reports Mayor Mohammad Idris of Depok in West Java asked his city’s Health, Social Affairs, and Child Protection Agencies to make extra efforts to stop the “spread of LGBT…in order to protect the children.” He also asked agencies to increase raids in rooming houses and apartments with the goal of persecuting queer people who are quietly living their lives behind closed doors. News of the raids prompted outrage from human rights groups including Amnesty International, who issued a statement blasting the “vicious campaign of harassment of LGBTI people” in Indonesia. Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director, said: “This latest vicious campaign against LGBTI people must stop. “Same-sex relations are protected under international law and there can be no justification for these hateful raids.” Homosexuality isn’t illegal in Indonesia, except for the province of Aceh, but crackdowns on LGBTQ people have worsened in recent years. Following the 2017 public humiliation of 141 men arrested in a gay sauna in Jakarta, the government launched an anti-LGBTQ police force, banned all “effeminate men” and men dressing in drag on TV, and in the Aced province raided five beauty salons and arrested 12 transgender women and shaved their heads to “make them men” in 2018. (source: The Telegraph)