Check out the dog whistle from Florida’s newly-crowned Republican candidate for governor, Ron DeSantis, who says Floridians shouldn’t “monkey this up” by electing his “articulate” Democratic opponent, Tallehasse Mayor Andrew Gillum, a black man.
Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis used the term ‘monkey around’ about his Black opponent Andrew Gillum pic.twitter.com/i2veCn8XzS
No one really uses the expression “monkey this up,” even when they’re not running against a black man for governor It isn’t whether he intended that to be racist. It was racist. No walkback changes that. Nothing to add. https://t.co/Tr0GsJXUOx
Donald Trump defended his administration’s response to the horrific devastation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria saying “we did a fantastic job.” “I think we did a fantastic job in Puerto Rico,” said the Trumpster. “We’re still helping Puerto Rico. The governor is an excellent guy and he’s very happy with the job we’ve done.” “I think most of the people in Puerto Rico really appreciate what we’ve done,” he added. https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1034879661694693376 It was recently announced that an independent study conducted by George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health showed 2,975 people died as a result of the hurricane. Originally, the death toll was reported as 64. Those numbers now rank as the most deadly U.S. natural disaster in the past century.
1,833 people died due to Hurricane Katrina.2,975 people died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria. That is a “fantastic job”? https://t.co/i7OhwHixfX
I’m not American, maybe you can educate me? Why didn’t Trump make an effort to help Puerto Rico?1 He didn’t know it was an American territory? 2 Mayor Cruz is a strong woman who criticized him? 3 The population isn’t ‘white enough’? 4 The can’t vote for him so he doesn’t care?
JUST IN: San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz: President Trump saying “I think we did a fantastic job in Puerto Rico” a day after Hurricane Maria death toll was officially increased to 2,975 shows the president is “incapable of feeling solidarity and empathy.” pic.twitter.com/hh0UYixCiW
Donald Trump took to Twitter last night after apparently watching a report on Fox News (what else?) that China might have hacked into Hillary Clinton’s email server.
Are we still talking about the emails???
Trump wrote, “‘China hacked Hillary Clinton’s private Email Server.’ Are they sure it wasn’t Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!”
He followed that up with another missive asserting, “Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!”
Now, the truth is the FBI has already determined that no classified information was sent via Hillary Clinton’s email server.
Report just out: “China hacked Hillary Clinton’s private Email Server.” Are they sure it wasn’t Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!
Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!
Last night in Arizona’s primary election for the upcoming fall mid-terms, Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, Kyrsten Sinema is the first openly bisexual member of the House.
She is the first openly bisexual candidate to run for the Senate from Arizona, and should she win in November, would be Arizona’s first female Senator.
But another woman stands in her way.
Rep. Martha McSally clinched the Republican nod in the race for GOP Sen.Jeff Flake’s seat, who announced early that he would not be running for re-election.
McSally was forced to tact far to the right to defeat her primary opponents, former state Sen. Kelli Ward and virulently anti-immigration former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who appeared to split the more extreme fringes of the GOP.
McSally was the first woman to pilot a fighter jet.
HRC released the following statement on Sinema’s victory in the Arizona primary:
“HRC proudly supports pro-equality champion Rep. Kyrsten Sinema — a strong, effective leader who puts solutions first and fights to ensure every Arizonan has a shot at the American Dream,” said HRC Arizona State Director Justin Unga. “The stakes in November could not be clearer. In the coming weeks, HRC will continue mobilizing more than 800,000 Equality Voters and tens of thousands of members and supporters in the state to turn out for Sinema.”
The Republicans currently have a slim one vote edge in the Senate. They can only afford to lose one seat in the Senate without losing control of the chamber.
As I’ve written before, this year marks a big uptick in the number of LGBTQ people running for public office at various federal, state and local levels.
After transphobic conspiracy nutjob Alex Jones was caught with transgender porn on his phone during an episode of his InfoWars last week, Jones took a moment last night to deny the allegation.
It’s an age-old story, don’t you know?
Every transphobic bigot “has had porn pop-up on their phones hundreds of times,” right?
“I saw a couple of news articles about that, it’s ridiculous. I was like looking up some reporter we’re trying to hire today and punched in some number and porn popped up on my phone. Everybody has had porn pop-up on their phone hundreds of times,” Jones explained to a caller on Tuesday.
“I probably had porn menus pop up 500 times on my phone,” he added. “There’s two types of people: People who look at porn and people who lie about it. But I wasn’t looking at porn on my phone. I don’t take phones on air that I look at porn on.”
• In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Australia pop star Sia admits she refused to take a photo with Donald Trump backstage at SNL. When asked for the photo op, she replied, “Actually, do you mind if we don’t? I have a lot of queer and Mexican fans, and I don’t want them to think that I support your views.” #Bravo
• John Goodman confirmed to The Times that Roseanne Barr’s character will indeed be killed off in the upcoming reboot of the rebooted Roseanne sitcom, now to be titled, The Connors.
•Porn star Stormy Daniels was asked by Vogue Magazine about her infamous one-night-stand with Donald Trump. Daniels reply – “How many details can you really give about two minutes?” #Ouch
• I’ll bookend this News Round-Up with one more by the handsome Mr. James, who proves in this pic he has clothes, albeit they may be coming off in the photo…
The Department of Agriculture will pay $4.7 billion to farmers growing soybeans, cotton and other products hit by tariffs in the Trump administration’s hard-line trade war with China, announcing the first batch of payments from a $12 billion government aid package.
Starting next Tuesday, the agency will take applications from farmers who produce corn, cotton, dairy, hogs, sorghum, soybeans and wheat — products that were targeted in China’s retaliatory tariffs, after the U.S. imposed a 25 percent levy on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports.
The government payout was sharply criticized when it was announced last month, with farmers and Trump’s fellow Republicans saying that the administration was paying billions in response to a problem it created. Congress was not required to vote on the billion-dollar farm relief package — a vote that could have had sharp negative fallout with midterm elections looming in November.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of an elderly lesbian woman who alleges she was discriminated against and harassed while living in a senior retirement home in Illinois.
Marsha Wetzel moved into the Glen St. Andrew Living Community, near Chicago, in 2014 after her longtime partner Judy had died of colon cancer.
In the aftermath of Judy’s passing, Judy’s family did not respect the 30 year relationship. The family took possession of Judy’s assets including the home they’d shared.
And so, Marsha had to find a place to live, and she found Glen St. Andrew.
But by 2016, she was forced to file a lawsuit after she experienced ugly, homophobic abuse at the hands of other residents and Glen St. Andrew did nothing about it.
Marsha says she was called anti-gay slurs and spit upon by residents. In her lawsuit she also alleged that she had been attacked and hit in the head in the community laundry room.
Additionally, she fell and bruised her arm when another resident rammed into her scooter knocking her over.
When Marsha took her concerns to management, nothing was done and she was retaliated against, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Lambda Legal created the heartbreaking video below when Marsha began her legal battle in 2016.
When the case went to trial last year, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.
But undeterred, Marsha soldiered on to the 7th Circuit Appeals Court where yesterday a panel of three judges overturned the 2017 ruling and sent the case back to be tried.
The panel came to the conclusion that Glen St. Andrew could be held liable for housing discrimination.
Chief Judge Diane Wood wrote in the ruling, ‘“Not only does it (the Fair Housing Act) create liability when a landlord intentionally discriminates against a tenant based on a protected characteristic; it also creates liability against a landlord that has actual notice of tenant-on-tenant harassment … yet chooses not to take any reasonable steps within its control to stop that harassment.”
The win at the 7th Circuit was celebrated by Lambda Legal senior counsel Karen Loewy, who said in a statement after the ruling, “This is a tremendous victory for Marsha.”
“She, just like all people living in rental housing, whether LGBT or not, should be assured that they will at least be safe from discriminatory harassment in their own homes, “ Loewy continued. “What happened to Marsha was illegal and unconscionable, and the Court has now put all landlords on notice that they have an obligation to take action to stop known harassment.”
A statement released by a Glen St. Andrew spokesperson said while the senior home “is committed to providing fair, safe and non-discriminatory housing, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sex or sexual orientation,” the retirement home still denies the allegations.
“At this stage, the court was required to assume the factual allegations of plaintiff’s complaint were true for purposes of determining the legal issues,” they said in a statement. “Glen St. Andrew strongly denies the factual allegations of the complaint and will present its case in court at the appropriate time.”
Last night’s event at the White House was grand enough to rival past ’state dinners’ held for visiting heads of state as President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence welcomed a ‘who’s who’ of evangelical, anti-LGBTQ leaders.
Prominent anti-gay haters included longtime anti-choice activist Ralph Reed, hate group leader Tony Perkins, Texas megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress (who once declared that Jews are going to hell for killing Jesus), and “Christian” activist Jim Garlow (who has publicly stated gays are ‘demonic’).
That said, Donald Trump’s White House crew were all on hand to happily take pics with the leaders of Trump’s evangelical base, including supposedly LGBTQ-friendly Jared and Ivanka Trump.
At White House Dinner tonite. Fabulous event. I was leaving the room. Did not even know the President was coming up beside me on my right. Was so shocked to see him. Got the best pic I could. pic.twitter.com/MceUWAvcp0
Many Americans have not been able to understand how so-called “Christians” can reconcile so many less-than-moral incidents in Trump’s past and present.
In fact, a recent Fox News poll shows Trump enjoys 74% job approval among evangelicals.
The reason why? They don’t care about his moral failings as long as they get the policies they want.
On Fox News last night, Jeffress explained to host Shannon Bream that as long as Trump delivers on the policies he and his ilk want to see passed, they will not be ‘shamed’ for supporting the Trumpster.
“I know a lot of people are still perplexed ‘Why are Christians so supportive of Donald Trump?’” Jeffress said. “Well, it’s really not that hard to figure out when you realize he is the most pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative judiciary in history and that includes either Bush or Ronald Reagan. I think that is why evangelicals remain committed to this president and they are not going to turn away from him soon.”
“To be fair, Shannon, we have to understand these are still allegations against the president, so I’m not going to judge the president on these things,” said the megachurch pastor. “But even if they were true, some of these allegations, I mean, obviously, we don’t support extramarital affairs, we don’t support hush money payments, but what we do support are these president’s excellent policies,” Jeffress continued. “And I think most thinking people can absolutely differentiate between the two.”
“And don’t be mistaking what is going on here. Those who hate President Trump, those on the left know that if they can dislodge his evangelical supporters from him, they have a shot at overtaking the White House. So I think the left is trying to shame people like myself continuously for supporting this great president. It’s not going to work. We’re not going to turn away from him.”
Watch Jeffress explain why he and fellow “Christians” won’t be ‘shamed” by Donald Trump’s deeds below.
