Category: Uncategorized

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New Trailer For Gay-Themed Teen Romance “Love, Simon”

I’m definitely looking forward to the upcoming Love, Simon in theaters March 16.

The official synopsis goes like this:

Everyone deserves a great love story. But for Simon (Nick Robinson) it’s complicated: no-one knows he’s gay and he doesn’t know who the anonymous classmate is that he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, scary and life-changing.

This would be the first gay-themed teen romance flick with a nation-wide release.

From the folks who brought you This Is Us, Brothers & Sisters and Dawson’s Creek.

Watch the new trailer below.

Plus, we get the first track from the film’s soundtrack – Bleachers “Alfie’s Song (Not So Typical Love Song).”

Take a listen below.

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Trump Administration Opens New Division To Promote Religious-Based LGBTQ Discrimination

The Trump administration is taking further steps to make anti-LGBT animus legal by creating a new office within the Department of Health and Human Services – The Conscience and Religious Freedom Division.

While the move is being dressed up as an attempt to shield doctors whose religious beliefs oppose performing abortions, this also opens the door for any service provider to deny LGBTs treatment.

From The New York Times:

Critics said the administration was giving health care providers a license to discriminate, and they raised the possibility that some doctors might deny fertility treatments to lesbian couples and that some pharmacists might refuse to fill prescriptions for certain types of contraceptives. In such situations, patients could suffer, and health care workers could violate professional or ethical obligations.

“Donald Trump’s administration is handing out permission slips for hospitals and providers to deny individuals, including women and LGBT patients, access to a full range of health services including life saving emergency care,” said Dawn Huckelbridge, director of the Women’s Rights Initiative at American Bridge, a Democratic advocacy group. “If there is any doubt about how morally repulsive, politically unpopular, and far-reaching the consequences of this rule will be, crafting it in secret behind closed doors and without public input says all you need to know.”

LGBT blogger/activist JoeMyGod writes, “The new HHS division provides a complaint page if healthcare providers feel they’ve been forced to betray Jesus by providing care to somebody they hate.”

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Report: Donald Trump Personally Ordered Bannon To Curtail His House Intel Committee Testimony

Donald Trump (L), Steve Bannon (R)

According to Foreign Policy, Donald Trump himself ordered Steve Bannon to refuse to answer questions before a House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday:

Trump acted to limit Bannon’s testimony based on legal advice provided by Uttam Dhillon, a deputy White House counsel, who concluded that the administration might have legitimate executive privilege claims to restrict testimony by Bannon and other current and former aides to the president, according to these same sources.

But Dhillon has also concluded that Bannon and other current and former Trump administration officials do not have legitimate claims to executive privilege when it comes to providing information or testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller, according to the sources.

Personally, I’m not sure executive privilege really applies to any questions from the campaign or the transition period after the election since Trump was not president yet. If you’re not the “executive,” then you have no executive privilege.

Several outlets have reported that Bannon has agreed to be open and transparent with Robert Mueller’s investigators in exchange for avoiding testimony before a grand jury.

We shall see…

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News Round-Up: January 18, 2018

(Image via photographer Robin MacDonald)

Some news items you might have missed:

• It’s always such a quandry getting dressed for the gym (above) – sneakers or no sneakers? How about just mimosas!

• Log Cabin Republicans have shared a congratulatory letter from Donald Trump on their 40th anniversary just a day after Trump proclaimed Tuesday “Religious Freedom Day.” It comes as no surprise the proclamation was full of anti-LGBT dog-whistles.

• Insurance giant Aetna will pay $17 million to settle a lawsuit after mailing out envelopes that accidentally revealed thousands of patients’ HIV status.

• The young 22-year-old writer of the Aziz Ansari “Revenge Porn” article has responded to criticisms of the piece by flipping out on Twitter.

• Imagine opening a package expecting to see your gorgeous printed wedding invitations only to find a pamphlet entitled, “Understanding Temptation: Fight the good fight of the faith.” That’s what happened to this gay couple.

• Donald Trump will soon announce new guidelines that would allow healthcare providers to deny LGBT, and especially, transgender patients and others critical care in the name of religion.

• I know, I know – no one wants to see hunky UK gymnasts literally flipping into their clothes… (But if you did, watch below).

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Donald Trump Now Says Parts Of Mexican Border Wall Were Always Meant To Be “See Through”

Donald Trump used his morning “Executive Time” today on Twitter to assert that he never promised one long solid wall along the U.S./Mexican border, and that parts of the barrier were always meant to be “see through.”

Does anyone remember Trump talking about a “see through” wall on the campaign trail?

This comes a day after White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told reporters that Donald Trump was “uninformed” about the realities of building an actual wall across the U.S./Mexican border from sea to shining sea,

Via CNN:

“The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water,” the President tweeted.

Appearing on Fox News Wednesday evening, Kelly pointed to the border wall as an example of how the President has adjusted his views after being briefed by experts. “He has evolved in the way he’s looked at things,” Kelly said, adding, “Campaign to governing are two different things, and this President has been very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible.”

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Donald Trump Announces His “Fake News Awards;” Washington Post Fact-Checks Each One

Donald Trump finally announced his much-hyped “Fake News Awards” last night on the Republican National Committee’s website.

There was a sense of irony in that the posting and subsequent traffic caused the website to crash.

In any case, if you’re wondering what’s really bothering Donald Trump these days, here are his biggest pet peeves in terms of “news” from his first year in the White House.

1. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claimed on the day of President Trump’s historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover.

2. ABC News’ Brian Ross CHOKES and sends markets in a downward spiral with false report.

3. CNN FALSELY reported that candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald J. Trump, Jr. had access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks.

4. TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office.

5. Washington Post FALSELY reported the President’s massive sold-out rally in Pensacola, Florida was empty. Dishonest reporter showed picture of empty arena HOURS before crowd started pouring in.

6. CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister. Japanese prime minister actually led the way with the feeding.

7. CNN FALSELY reported about Anthony Scaramucci’s meeting with a Russian, but retracted it due to a ‘significant breakdown in process.’

8. Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump’s hand.

9. CNN FALSELY reported that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim that he was told he is not under investigation.

10. The New York Times FALSELY claimed on the front page that the Trump administration had hidden a climate report.

11. And last, but not least: “RUSSIA COLLUSION!” Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!

On that last issue, it is well known that no final report has been filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, so Trump’s assertion that “there is no collusion” is merely his own used-car salesman hyperbole.

Sane folks should wait for the conclusion of the investigation to determine whether or not someone from Team Trump somehow cooperated with Russian agents during the 2016 election.

The Washington Post has taken the time to actually delve into the reality behind each of these. I encourage you to read the brief details behind them all here.

Here’s the WaPo’s summary:

To sum up, at least eight of the “Fake News” winners resulted in corrections, with two reports prompting suspensions or resignations.

Two of the winners were simply tweets that were quickly corrected and never resulted in news articles.

One was an opinion article in which the author later retracted his prediction.

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Trailer: Netflix’s All-New “Queer Eye” Reboot

Early 2000s reality hit TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is back with a new Fab 5 and some very tough missions.

The Emmy Award-winning show is back (this time on Netflix) and ready to make America fabulous again.

The new trailer announces, “The original show was fighting for tolerance, our fight is for acceptance.”

From 2003-2007, Bravo hosted the groundbreaking original edition starring Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez. Over the course of several seasons, the team of gays applied their cultural know-how to help make-over the lives of straight men

The new incarnation of Queer Eye stars Bobby Berk (Design), Karamo Brown (Culture), Tan France (Fashion), Antoni Porowski (Food) and Jonathan Van Ness (Grooming).

According to Netflix, “Our new Fab Five will forge relationships with men and women from a wide array of backgrounds and beliefs often contrary to their own, touching on everything from LGBTQ rights and social commentary to how to make the best farm-to-table guacamole and more!”

February 7 is the drop date for Netflix to release all-new episodes.

Watch the trailer below.

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In Touch Weekly To Run Porn Star’s “Textbook Generic Sex” Affair With Donald Trump

Rumors have again been swirling about an alleged consensual sexual relationship between Donald Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels (aka Stephanie Clifford).

According to the Wall Street Journal , Daniels was in negotiations to publicly discuss her affair with Trump, which allegedly took place in 2006, right before election day in 2016.

But says she was paid $130,000 in hush money right before spilling the beans.

Now In Touch Weekly has announced it will print an unedited 5,500 word interview with Daniels from 2011 (before she allegedly signed a non-disclosure agreement) which details the affair.

The magazine says two other sources corroborated the story and Daniels passed a polygraph test at the time regarding the details.

According to Daniels, the relationship began just months after Melania Trump gave birth to Trump scion, Barron.

Here’s an excerpt released today:

Stormy told In Touch, “[The sex] was textbook generic,” while discussing the fling they had less than four months after Donald’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron. “I actually don’t even know why I did it, but I do remember while we were having sex, I was like, ‘Please, don’t try to pay me.’”

It all started at the American Century celebrity golf tournament in July 2006. “[Trump] was introduced to everybody. He kept looking at me and then we ended up riding to another hole on the same golf cart together,” Stormy recalled, adding that the business mogul later came to the gift lounge her adult-film company, Wicked Pictures, sponsored and asked for her number, which she gave him, before they posed for a photo together.

“Then he asked me if I wanted to have dinner that night. And I was like, ‘Yeah, of course!’” she told In Touch. Stormy, dressed up to go out on the town, arrived at Trump’s hotel room, where she says she was greeted by a bodyguard named Keith, who let her inside. Stormy claims Trump was sprawled on the couch watching TV, wearing pajama pants. “We ended up having dinner in the room,” she revealed to In Touch.

At one point, Stormy told In Touch, she excused herself to go to the bathroom. “When I came out, he was sitting on the bed and he was like, ‘Come here.’ And I was like, ‘Ugh, here we go.’ And we started kissing.” After having sex, Stormy said, “We hung out for a little while and he just kept saying, ‘I’m gonna call you, I’m gonna call you. I have to see you again. You’re amazing. We have to get you on The Apprentice.’”

The promised appearance on Trump’s The Apprentice series never happened.

According to The Daily Beast, other media outlets – including Fox News – were prepping their own coverage of the alleged affair before the election but chose not to run the story.

Trump has flatly denied the allegations.

Daniels refuses to comment today presumably due to the NDA she is alleged to have signed.

As I’ve written in the past, It’s not of interest to me what two consenting adults do in private. But, if true, this just adds to the list of lies Donald Trump has told.

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Nyle DiMarco Books New TV Series “This Close” As He Heads To Broadway

(Nyle DiMarco in “This Close” – image via screen capture)

America’s Next Top Model/Dancing with the Stars champ Nyle DiMarco is one busy, busy man.

First of all, the former Chippendales celebrity host has booked a new TV series for the Sundance Channel titled, This Close.

According to reports, this will be Hollywood’s first series from a team of deaf writers, producers, and creators. Stars/co-creators Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman are deaf as well.

From Sundance: The six-episode half-hour series explores the relationship between best friends Kate (Stern), who is newly engaged, and Michael (Feldman), who is attempting to move on from his ex-fiancé.

ETonline also announced yesterday that DiMarco will be a producer on the upcoming Broadway revival of the play Children of a Lesser God.

The revival of the 1980 production follows the story of a deaf student and her teacher.

This new adaptation will feature Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff.

The show will start preview performances on March 22 at Studio 54, with opening night on April 11.

Watch the trailer for This Close below.

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Girther Movement: Raised Eye-Brows At Donald Trump’s Ht/Wt Stats After Physical

Donald Trump recently underwent his first full physical since arriving at the White House.

And according to Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy and the White House physician, Trump is in “excellent” health.

But eyebrows were raised when Jackson released his report saying the Trumpster, who is 6’3″ tall, clocks in at 239 pounds.

From The New York Times:

Overall, Dr. Jackson said, Mr. Trump’s health was “excellent,” with mostly normal results on a battery of tests and examinations. He said Mr. Trump, 71, has remarkably good cardiac health, probably because he does not smoke or drink alcohol.

But he did say that Mr. Trump’s weight is 239 pounds and that he is too sedentary. His cholesterol is too high, despite medicine to lower it, and Dr. Jackson said Mr. Trump would be increasing the 10-milligram dosage of Crestor to better control it.

At 6 feet 3 inches tall, Mr. Trump has a body mass index of 29.9, which is just shy of officially being obese.

Folks were not buying that the Donald’s impressive girth would yield a weight of only 239 lbs.

I personally couldn’t care less what he weighs, but it is just one more lie generated by Trump’s fragile ego to throw on the pile.

Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn is offering $100K if Trump will stand on an accurate scale with an inpartial medical professional:

Dr. Jackson also announced he performed a cognitive test on Trump at Trump’s request. Jackson said Trump received a perfect score on the test.

Via to Matt Rettenmund of Boy Culture, below is the cognitive test Trump apparently aced.