Randy Rainbow trolls Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani – “former mayor and soon-to-be-former lawyer of soon-to-be-former president, Donald Trump – with the query, with this parody of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia.”
Giuliani, here you go againLie, lie, how can we believe you?Giuliani, gurl who let you in?Ay, ay, when will Donald leave you?Blowing his own defenses, flubbing his false pretenses,Can’t trust what he says on TV shows
Bravo Randy Rainbow on another wild and wacky ride through Trump Town. Hit play below 🙂
A three-year investigation by the U.S. State Department has cleared former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of any mishandling of classified information through the use of a private email server. This result concurs with former FBI Director James Comey’s similar conclusions in 2016 that found Clinton hadn’t broken any laws. From the Washington Post:
A multiyear State Department probe of emails that were sent to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private computer server concluded there was no systemic or deliberate mishandling of classified information by department employees, according to a report submitted to Congress this month.
The report appears to represent a final and anticlimactic chapter in a controversy that overshadowed the 2016 presidential campaign and exposed Clinton to fierce criticism that she later cited as a major factor in her loss to President Trump.
In the end, State Department investigators found 38 current or former employees “culpable” of violating security procedures — none involving material that had been marked classified — in a review of roughly 33,000 emails that had been sent to or from the personal computer system Clinton used.
For those found culpable, the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when applying for or renewing security clearances. It’s worth noting that this State Department investigation was performed under the Trump administration. If they were going to find anything, this would have been the group to do it. And, again, they found nothing to hang on Hillary. As the WaPo adds, while Donald Trump continues to rant on the campaign trail about the phony, twice-disproved conspiracy theory regarding her emails, his own representatives have been found to be using private cell phones and texting apps while working on his behalf. #hypocrisy
“How many times does something have to be investigated & disproven until you realize that this is…a smear tactic, not something real?” -Fareed Zakaria on a report that a multi-year State Dept. probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails found no deliberate mishandling of classified info pic.twitter.com/v6WCm5vlLX
Michael and I laughing as Olivia Newton-John officiates the renewal of our wedding vows Some news items you might have missed: • The Big Two-Five: I’ll share the full details soon, but yes, hubby Michael and I celebrated our 25th anniversary together yesterday renewing our wedding vows. And handling the officiating duties was our dear friend (and international pop star), Olivia Newton-John. #Magic My wish is that everyone celebrates their 25th with as much joy and love that surrounded us yesterday. Thanks to the fabulous Denise Truscello for the awesome pic 🙂 • Deadline: With domestic box office gross of $83.5 million, Focus Features’ Downton Abbey movie, which features a gay storyline, has surpassed another gay-themed Focus Features film, three-time Oscar-winner Brokeback Mountain, as the highest-grossing title of all time for the studio. • KIT212: Check out what’s the what this week in gay magazines across the country. • Washington Post: Lenny Pozner, who lost his six-year-old son Noah in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, has spent years trying to stop people from spreading lies claiming the massacre was faked and never happened. In June, Pozner won a defamation case against book editors James H. Fetzer and Mike Palecek, who published statements that his son’s death certificate was a fake. On Tuesday, a Wisconsin jury ordered Fetzer to pay Pozner $450,000 in punitive damages. • Axios: An internal impeachment polling memo that was sent to House Democrats Thursday included specific messaging guidance: “When discussing Trump’s actions, keep the language simple, direct and values-based…No one is above the law…The whistleblower did the right thing by coming forward…Focus on the biggest issues facing families in the country, specifically health care and wages.” • BBC: Little monsters were agog last night when a fan who got pulled up on stage during Lady Gaga’s Enigma concert in Las Vegas lost his footing and fell off-stage while holding the pop star. Gaga didn’t seem to suffer any serious injuries and went on with the show. She brought the fan back on stage to sit at the piano as she sang “Million Reasons” and implored folks on the internet to be nice to him telling the audience, “And if anybody on the internet is mean to you tomorrow about this then I’m going to be very upset with each and every one of them.”
Funnyman Michael Henry stars in the new short film, Fertilizer, exploring the ups and downs, highs and lows, or tops and bottoms of dating in the gay community via dating apps. Written and directed by Ben Simpkins, the short also stars features Calvin Seabrooks, Judilin Bosita, Anthony Desamito, Peter Kim, Matt LeGrande, Tiff Puterbaugh, Richard Bain, Casey Ley, Derion Loman, and Doug Rogers.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney Wow. So, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told the press today that military aid to Ukraine was withheld at one point conditioned on the ‘favor’ asked by Donald Trump that the Ukrainian government investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. From the New York Times:
It was the first time a White House official has publicly acknowledged what a parade of current and former administration officials have told impeachment investigators on Capitol Hill.
“The look-back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation,” Mr. Mulvaney told reporters, referring to Mr. Trump. “And that is absolutely appropriate.”
He said that the aid was initially withheld because, “Everybody knows this is a corrupt place,” and the president was demanding Ukraine clean up its own government. But Mr. Trump also told Mr. Mulvaney that he was concerned about what he thought was Ukraine’s role in the 2016 campaign.
Mick Mulvaney acknowledges that Trump held up Ukraine aid partly over a conspiracy theory involving the 2016 election. “We do that all the time,” he said. “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” pic.twitter.com/NOlvTbAxL0
“To be clear, what you described is a quid pro quo” — Here’s Mick Mulvaney casually admitting that Trump held up aid to Ukraine as leverage to get the Ukrainian government to investigate the 2016 election pic.twitter.com/ylz7BKEmKd
BREAKING: Trump’s chief of staff says the president “absolutely” mentioned to him that “corruption related to the DNC server” was part of the reason “why we held up the money” pic.twitter.com/XdpBeZZtNK
SWALWELL says Mulvaney has “co-signed the president’s confession.” Says Trump has basically “pleaded guilty” and now it’s just a matter of determining the sentence.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi addresses Donald Trump at the White House (public domain) Donald Trump’s 1,000th day in the White House was certainly one for the history books. Via Axios: A one-page letter from Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (read it below) sounded fake when it first surfaced on Twitter, but was real: “Let’s work out a good deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will. … Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool! I will call you later.” (click image to enlarge) During a meeting with the congressional leadership in the Cabinet room, according to a senior Democratic aide who provided a readout, Trump declared that Jim Mattis, a four-star Marine general and Trump’s first defense secretary, was “the world’s most overrated general. … You know why? He wasn’t tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month.” Axios reports that Trump told Pelosi: “President Obama drew a red line in the sand. In my opinion, you are a third-grade politician.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said: “This is not useful.” Pelosi and Hoyer stood and left the meeting. Afterward, Pelosi told reporters as she was leaving the White House: “What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown — sad to say.”
PELOSI on Trump: “I think now we have to pray for his health. Because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president.” pic.twitter.com/ckhNSeDmrG
In response, Trump tweeted: “Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her ‘upstairs,’ or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!” The Donald also tweeted a photo of Pelosi standing amid the room full of men. It was meant to ridicule her, but the move backfired. Standing in a bold blue suit with all the men seated, she was clearly the most powerful person in the photo.
Pelosi responded to Trump’s tweet by making the photo her profile pic on Twitter. Also – the House voted 354-60 to condemn Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. That included 129 Republicans voting with the Democrats. Quite the day, huh? So. Much. Winning.
Jim Newman (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Jim Newman (above) throws back to when he was touring with the legendary Village People as ‘the Cowboy’ (until a lawsuit had to go ruin it all…). • Gay City News: A gay man in Jackson Heights was returning home early in the morning on October 13 when he said a stranger exposed himself, punched him, stole his belongings, and dragged him on the ground — all because he wouldn’t perform oral sex on him. • The Advocate: Brianna Hill of Kansas City, Missouri, who was shot to death on Monday morning, is the 20th transgender woman of color to be murdered this year. • New York Times: The newspaper of note recaps the winners and losers of last night’s Democratic debate. Everyone pretty much felt Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a very good night. Here’s just a sample:
Amid a clash over Beto O’Rourke’s proposed mandatory buy-backs of assault-style rifles, Pete Buttigieg tells O’Rourke, “The problem isn’t the polls, the problem is the policy. And I don’t need lessons from you on courage, political or personal.” #DemDebatehttps://t.co/GnrM5echj6pic.twitter.com/7nNDPqISqp
• Politico: A former top adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told House impeachment investigators on Wednesday that he abruptly resigned last week because of President Donald Trump’s attacks on the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the State Department’s unwillingness to protect career diplomats from political pressure, according to two people familiar with the testimony. • People: Arrow star Colton Haynes, 31, and celebrity florist Jeff Leatham, 48, have quietly settled their divorce. In addition to waiving their rights to spousal support and the division of property, the exes have agreed to a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement. In other words, no ‘tell-all’ memoirs. • The WOW Report: Former The Apprentice staffer Noel Casler shares (among other things), “He’s a speed freak. He crushes up his Adderall and he sniffs it because he can’t read and he gets really nervous when he has to read cue cards. I’m not kidding. This is true.”
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain) Another poll shows a majority of Americans are done with Donald Trump. The latest polling from Gallup shows 52% of Americans believe Trump should be impeached and removed from office while 46% do not support impeachment. This is almost the inverse of polling results in June which showed support for impeachment at 45% and 53% opposing. (screen capture via Gallup) Gallup also looked back at the impeachment polling for Presidents Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. Support for removing Clinton from office never got higher than 35%, while 58% of Americans wanted Nixon gone right before he saw the writing on the wall and resigned.
The New York City Comptroller’s Office has found no evidence that Donald Trump donated to 9/11 charities in the months after the attacks, the agency said.
Trump had promised weeks after the 2001 attack to donate $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund as part of a charity effort by “The Howard Stern Show.”
“My office has reviewed the donations made in the nearly 12 months following the attacks – and we didn’t find evidence that he contributed a single cent to the victims, our first responders, and to our city through the Twin Towers Fund,” New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a Democrat, said in a statement to ABC News today.
“In the wake of 9/11, New Yorkers came together, healed, and rebuilt. If Donald Trump claimed to donate and didn’t, if he claimed to support New Yorkers in a time of crisis and refused, then that would be just plain wrong.”
It’s possible that the Republican presidential nominee donated after the two audit periods reviewed by Stringer’s office. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a startling rise in the number of cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia in 2018. The CDC’s annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report indicates more than 2.4 million infections of the three STDs were reported in 2018, an increase of more than 100,000 from 2017. The New York Times reports the CDC points to multiple factors for the increase:
• A decline in condom use among young people and men who have sex with men
• Increased screening among some groups
• Cuts to sexual health programs at the state and local level
There were more than 115,000 cases of syphilis reported in 2018 representing an increase of 71 percent since 2014. Gonorrhea cases increased by 5 percent in 2018 to more than 580,000. That’s the highest number reported to the center since 1991. And chlamydia diagnoses rose by 3 percent in 2018 to more than 1.7 million cases. Again, a record-breaking figure for the CDC.
The report noted that gay and bisexual men were disproportionately represented in the increase in infection rates. Fifty-four percent of all syphilis cases in 2018 were found in men who have sex with men (MSM).
Unfortunately, these figures may not be a full accounting of STDs in America today as many cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia go undiagnosed.
While we’re big proponents of the use of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), it’s easy to wonder if MSM are putting themselves at more risk than they imagine by not using condoms…?
Randy Rainbow trolls Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani – “former mayor and soon-to-be-former lawyer of soon-to-be-former president, Donald Trump – with the query, with this parody of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia.” 
Also – the House 
Via 