Category: Uncategorized

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Trump Supporter, Rep. Chris Collins, Arrested On Insider Trading Charges, Drops Bid For Reelection

Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York

 Donald Trump’s first congressional endorser, Rep. Chris Collins of New York, was not only investigated, but arrested on insider trading charges.

From CNBC:

Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to federal insider trading charges, according to NBC News.

The congressman was arrested earlier in the day on charges that he shared non-public information with family and friends related to Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics, on which Collins served as a board member.

An indictment released Wednesday alleges that Collins, 68, scrambled to call his son from the White House lawn and share information with him about a failed drug trial, and that his son and others then sold stock based on that tip before the trial results became public.

Collins’ son, Cameron Collins, 25, as well as the father of his fiancee, Stephen Zarsky, 66, were also charged, according to the court filing. All three pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and will be released on $500,000 bond. Collins now must surrender his diplomatic passport and firearms within 14 days.

CNBC has also reported that Collins used campaign donations to pay legal bills while being investigated – probably not what his supporters expected their money to be used for.

Since July 2017, Federal Election Commission records show Collins’ campaign has been paying up to $60,000 per month in legal services to prestigious law firm BakerHostetler.

Collins announced Saturday that he is dropping his bid for reelection.

#DrainTheSwamp

#SwampitySwampSwamp

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News Round-Up: August 11, 2018

Francesc Gascó

 Some news items you might have missed:

• Paleontologist and athlete Francesc Gascó is pumped for the weekend. #dang

• A record number of LGBTQ candidates are running for public office.

• Fox News host Laura Ingraham got in hot water revealing her racism during an on-air rant saying “massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people” thanks to “both illegal, and in some cases legal, immigration.” Ingraham later recanted saying her message had nothing to do with race or ethnicity.

• The Puerto Rican government has submitted a report to Congress counting the death toll in the wake of Hurricane Maria at over 1,427, much higher than the 64 deaths acknowledged as the current official count.

• Attorney General Jeff Sessions got testy saying the virulently anti-LGBTQ law group Alliance Defending Freedom (representing every anti-gay bigot you can find) isn’t a hate group even though it is.

• Out artist Ryan Beatty drops his latest single, “Powerslide.”

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New Music: Cher “Dancing Queen”

Pop music icon Cher will release her new album of ABBA cover songs "Dancing Queen" on September 28
The one and only Cher

Cher’s new album of ABBA cover songs, Dancing Queen, drops September 28.

Via press release:

The Oscar, Emmy and Grammy Award winning icon was inspired to record the album following her stunning performance in the recently-released mega-hit film, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

Says Cher, “I’ve always liked Abba and saw the original Mamma Mia musical on Broadway three times. After filming Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, I was reminded again of what great and timeless songs they wrote and started thinking, ‘Why not do an album of their music?’ The songs were harder to sing than I imagined but I’m so happy with how the music came out. I’m really excited for people to hear it. It’s a perfect time.”

Dancing Queen was recorded and produced in London and Los Angeles with Cher’s longtime collaborator Mark Taylor, who previously produced Cher’s global smash “Believe” which was number one in over 50 countries.

A co-producer for the upcoming The Cher Show on Broadway, she is scheduled to be awarded a Kennedy Center Honor on December 2nd in Washington DC.

The diva also has an ongoing residency at MGM Resorts.

 Dancing Queen track list:

1. Dancing Queen
2. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
3. The Name Of The Game
4. SOS
5. Waterloo
6. Mamma Mia
7. Chiquitita
8. Fernando
9. The Winner Takes It All
10. One Of Us

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Trump Rants – Again – At NFL Players Peaceful Protest

Donald Trump

Donald Trump couldn’t resist ranting at NFL players who took a knee during a preseason game between the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

From HuffPost:

The Miami Dolphins’ Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson both knelt during the anthem ahead of their preseason opener game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to Miami Herald sports reporter Adam Beasely.

It was a show of solidarity with the ongoing protests against police brutality and racial injustice, launched by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced a ban on the kneeling protests in May, but plans to enforce it were put on hold after the NFL Players Association filed a grievance against the new policy.

Kaepernick applauded the Dolphins players for their protest of “systemic oppression.”

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Anti-LGBTQ Arkansas Pastor Busted – Again – On Child Sex Crimes

In today’s ‘good Christian’ news…

Timothy Lee Reddin, a 67-year-old pastor at Turner Street Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, loves to get riled up and shriek about the evils of homosexuality from the pulpit.

You know what’s coming now, right?

Reddin was arrested on August 3 after chatting up what he believed was a 14-year-old boy on a ‘dating site.’

Reddin’s problem is the young boy was in reality an undercover cop posing as a teen in a sting operation.

Reddin setup a ‘meeting’ with the teen for sex. But when he showed up at the meeting spot, he was met by officers.

KARK-4 reports:

“Lee” described himself in his profile as a 62-year-old white male, 6’1″, 215 pounds and married. The profile description said, “I just wanna have fun…I like younger guys. But hell, at my age that’s just about everybody! Discreet, intelligent, witty, professional guy. Love to meet new friends. Especially naked ones,” according to the affidavit.

Married for almost 50 years with 4 grown children and 7 grandchildren, Reddin was booked in his local jail where he was charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

But wait – there’s more!

Reddin was busted and convicted in 2000 for possession of child pornography eventually spending 27 months in prison and registering as a sex offender after being released.

(h/t Queerty)

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Costa Rica: Supreme Court Rules Against Same-Sex Marriage Ban

From the BBC:

Costa Rica’s Supreme Court has ruled that the country’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional and discriminatory.

The court ruling gives the country’s legislators a time limit of 18 months to change the current law.

The president welcomed the ruling, saying he wants to guarantee “no person will face discrimination for their sexual orientation”.

However many lawmakers are evangelicals who strongly oppose gay marriage.

A Supreme Court judge, Fernando Castillo, told a press conference on Wednesday that the ban will automatically cease to legally exist in 18 months, even if no action is taken by the legislature.

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Billy Porter: “Keep Showing Up For Your Life”

Billy Porter

Tony Award winner and Pose star Billy Porter recently shared via his Instagram story this inspirational nugget:

“In September of 2002, I left Los Angeles vowing never to return until I was working on someone’s studio lot. I spent three years out here, as a black gay man trying to get work, and nobody was coming for me. Everybody told me I was worthless, and useless, and I would never work as a gay boy. I knew there was something better for me. I knew that I would be able to change the world if I stayed in it.

But I made that vow to myself. And child, I got off the plane and came to the 20th Century Fox lot to be on Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story. All I can say is dreams do come true. They may not come when you want them, but it’s all right on time. Keep on fighting, keep on showing up for your life. Keep on pushing. I’m a living witness that dreams come true. You change the world when you change your mind, and we all can make a difference in this world.”

#GoBillyGoBillyGoBilly

#winning

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Cher Teases First Track From Upcoming ABBA Covers Album

Cher

Cher thrilled fans yesterday as she teased the first single from her upcoming ABBA covers album.

The track, “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” offers the proper reverence to the 70s/80s super group but with Cher’s trademark throaty vocal style.

Gay Star News gushes:

Yes, there’s definitely something very 90s about Gimme, and there’s obviously something 70s about it, too. But it’s also very now. It’s nostalgic, but not cheap; it’s not chasing trends or vying for chart positions, thus it’s perfect for streaming, so confident is it in its camp, timeless quality.

This song, and most likely the album, fuses the two together to produce a piercing, crowd-pleasing result. Whether you listen to it on repeat, give it a single spin on Spotify, or hear it in passing it on the radio, we dare you to dislike it, to not tap your foot along to those 12 iconic central syllables.

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Ormarosa Allegedly Recorded Private Trump Conversations

Omarosa Manigault-Newman

Ruh-roh…

From The Daily Beast:

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, isn’t the only one with secretly recorded audio of the president.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the infamous former Apprentice star who followed Trump to the White House, secretly recorded conversations with the president —conversations she has since leveraged while shopping her forthcoming “tell-all” book, bluntly titled UNHINGED.

For months, it has been rumored that Manigault had clandestinely recorded on her smartphone “tapes” of unspecified private discussions she had in the West Wing. Audio actually does exist, and even stars Manigault’s former boss.

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News Round-Up: August 7, 2018

(Fran Dullon via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Spanish fitness model Fran Dullon is living this summer out LOUD. #woof

• Aryeh Cohen, a 44-year-old rabbi from St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis was arrested in a sex trafficking sting earlier this year after chatting and sharing explicit photos with someone claiming to be a 16-year-old boy on Grindr. He was apparently grooming the boy for sex.

• An Indiana judge has ordered a school district in Evansville, Ind., to allow a 17-year-old transgender student to use restrooms that align with his gender identity just days before the beginning of the school year.

• An anti-LGBT group is calling for a boycott of Britney Spears over her support for LGBTQ rights.

• Texas’s Hood County Clerk Katie Lang still won’t issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

• Charlotte Rae, who played the wise and wonderful “Mrs. Garrett” on the long-running sitcoms Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life fame passed away at the age of 92. After a long career on the Great White Way, the two-time Tony Award nominee moved into successful longevity television.