MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki looks at three different data points that indicate the could very well be a Democratic wave in the 2018 mid-term elections.
Data Looks Good For A Democratic Wave In 2018 Mid-Term Elections
Podcast: SCOTUS Refuses Houston Same-Sex Marriage Benefits Review; “Call Me By Your Name” Racks Up More Awards; Tom Goss Has A Musical Message For Christmas
In this week’s podcast:
• The US Supreme Court denied the city of Houston’s request to review a court decision saying marriage equality doesn’t mean equal benefits.
• Bermuda is the first nation to legalize then repeal marriage equality.
• Gay coming of age movie “Call Me By Your Name” continues to rack up awards and nominations
• My suggestions for end of the year charitable donations.
• New music from Tom Goss “Gay Christmas”
All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
Governor Of Puerto Rico Plans To Mobilize Puerto Rican Votes In 2018 Midterm Elections
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| Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló (image via Flickr) |
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is done playing nice guy with President Trump and the GOP-led Congress after the lack of action following Hurricane Maria and the recent tax law passed which will hurt Puerto Rico’s already hurting economy.
Rosselló now plans to mobilize the 5.3 million stateside Puerto Ricans to target specific midterm elections.
From Politico:
Rosselló, a Democrat and member of the island’s pro-statehood New Progressive Party, is infuriated about a Republican tax plan that he says could hobble the island’s economy even as thousands of residents remain without power and water three months after Hurricane Maria.
“Everybody has seen the damage of the storm and yet policy decisions go in the opposite direction of where they should go,” Rosselló said in an interview with POLITICO on Tuesday. “We’re not just going to stand by. We are going to take action.”
The 3.4 million U.S. citizens living on the island have no vote in Congress, but they do have 5.3 million fellow Puerto Ricans scattered across the mainland who do have a vote. It’s that political power Rosselló plans to leverage.
“We are a significant voting bloc in the United States that perhaps hasn’t been organized well in the past,” he said. “The diaspora, the Puerto Rican exodus, has always wanted to help Puerto Rico, it just hasn’t been crystal clear how they can do it. If we can establish that organization we can have plenty of influence.”
Take a look at Florida where over 220,000 Puerto Ricans have relocated since the hurricane. Those folks are not happy about how the damage has been addressed.
Donald Trump only won the state of Florida in 2016 by about 112,000 votes.
How do you think those 220,000 (or more) will be voting come 2020?
Rosselló calculates Puerto Rican votes can affect congressional district votes in 14 states, including Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Plan Your Post-Holiday Workout Now – Or Just Watch This Guy Work His Glutes
It’s never too early to start planning your post-holiday workout.
So, I want you all to study this video – I think it has much to offer 😉
More from Meat Market Blog here.
HuffPost: How The Miss America Pageant’s CEO Really Talks About The Winners
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| Miss America Organization CEO Sam Haskell |
Writing for the Huffington Post, reporter Yashar Ali dropped a bombshell today as he revealed several internal emails obtained from the Miss America Organization that shows how the folks at the top really feel about their pageant winners.
Name-calling, slut-shaming and fat-shaming are all involved.
From the article:
In late August 2014, the CEO of the Miss America Organization, Sam Haskell, sent an email to the lead writer of the Miss America pageant telecast, Lewis Friedman, informing him of a change he wanted to make in the script: “I have decided that when referring to a woman who was once Miss America, we are no longer going to call them Forever Miss Americas….please change all script copy to reflect that they are Former Miss Americas!”
Friedman replied, “I’d already changed “Forevers” to “Cunts.” Does that work for you?”
Haskell’s short reply came quickly: “Perfect…bahahaha.”
At that point, Haskell had been the leader of Miss America for nine years, after rising through the ranks at a top Hollywood talent agency. Many prior winners, or as they’re called, “formers,” consider the pageant a wonderful, wholesome activity for young women. But Haskell’s behavior behind closed doors shows he regularly maligned, fat-shamed and slut-shamed the former Miss Americas, calling them shocking names and in one case laughing at the suggestion that one of the women should die.
That’s just the beginning.
In one email that discussed the passing of former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, a MAO executive wrote: “It should have been (former Miss America) Kate Shindle.”
Another exchange about former Miss America Mallory Hagen wondered if four executives at the MAO were the “only four” men who didn’t have sex with her.
There’s much more at the link. Below is The Today Show’s segment on the story.
7. Today Show segment about my story pic.twitter.com/GuwnJ80YHh— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 22, 2017
US Ambassador To Netherlands Lies To Reporter About Something He Said On Video 15 Seconds Earlier
Donald Trump’s newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands turns in a truly farcical performance here as he flip-flops within seconds on his own statements on camera.
A reporter asked Ambassador Pete Hoekstra about comments he made ON THE RECORD regarding conditions in the Netherlands like ‘no-go’ zones in the Netherlands, and cars and politicians being burned.
Hoekstra demonstrably denies ever saying these things, calling the very idea ‘fake news.’
Then the reporter shows video of Hoekstra saying exactly that.
Err, umm, what had had happened was…
Hoekstra then says he didn’t call those statements ‘fake news’ – just minutes after saying those exact words.
I think the technical term here is called “stepping on your own dick.”
Another winning choice by Donald Trump.
p.s. Hoekstra just happens to be anti-LGBT, btw…
Watch below.
Just perfect.
Dutch journalist to new US Ambassador: you said there were ‘no go zones’ in Netherlands, where are they?
Ambassador: That’s fake news, I didn’t say that
Journalist: We can show you that clip now.
Ambassador: Err 😳🤥 pic.twitter.com/8ohIOzmYAc— Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) December 22, 2017
Pro-Trump TV Spot: “Thank You President Trump For LETTING Us Say ‘Marry Christmas’ Again!”
Oh brother!
Pro-Trump nonprofit, America First Policies, will spend $1 million to air a new TV spot beginning Christmas Day thanking Donald Trump for “fixing our economy” (we were already humming along for years before Trump took office) and “keeping my family safe”(the worst mass shootings in history have occurred under Trump’s watch; ask Puerto Ricans about how ‘safe’ he’s made them).
The spot ends with a little girl saying, “Thank you President Trump for letting us say ‘Merry Christmas’ again!”
Who ever told anyone you couldn’t say “Merry Christmas?”
Little girl in a new Pro-Trump ad: “Thank you, President Trump, for letting us say ‘Merry Christmas,’ again.”This is nuts! pic.twitter.com/VvN5qQqSyQ
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 21, 2017
Federal Appeals Court Denies Trump Administration Request To Stop Transgender Military Recruits Jan. 1
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia has denied a request by the Trump administration to prevent the U.S. military from accepting transgender recruits starting Jan. 1.
From Reuters:
The administration had urged the appeals court to suspend an order by a federal judge in Baltimore for the armed forces to begin accepting transgender recruits on that date. The administration has said the Jan. 1 start date was causing the armed forces to scramble to revise their policies at the risk of harming military readiness.
In a brief two-paragraph order, the three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was denying the administration’s request while the appeal proceeds.
Several transgender service members filed suit in Maryland after Trump said in July he would ban transgender people from the military, a move that would reverse a policy of the Republican president’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to accept them. Trump cited concern over military focus and medical costs.
So far, three federal judges around the country have issued injunctions blocking Trump’s ban. His administration has appealed all three rulings.
BREAKING: The Fourth Circuit denied the government’s request to delay accepting trans people as new enlistments.We will continue to fight for the right of trans people to live and serve their country with dignity, and we won’t stop until the #transban is struck down permanently
— ACLU (@ACLU) December 21, 2017
Another blow to Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s discriminatory trans troop ban. It’s clear that the military is ready to enlist openly transgender troops and that this White House should get out of their way.https://t.co/nrK2WKCyXq— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) December 21, 2017
Fox News’ Shepard Smith Explains The Whole “Uranium One” Issue
There are reports today that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions in looking into allegations that Hillary Clinton somehow profited from the sale of Uranium One mining facilities back in 2010.
The short version of the story: She didn’t.
From NBC News:
On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News.
At issue is a 2010 transaction in which the Obama Administration allowed the sale of U.S. uranium mining facilities to Russia’s state atomic energy company. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and the State Department was one of nine agencies that agreed to approve the deal after finding no threat to U.S. national security.
While Hillary haters have spun the story as “Hillary sold American uranium to Russia” in exchange for Clinton Foundation donations, the truth is Hillary wasn’t involved in the deliberations.
There were nine US departments that oversaw the decision, and the deal was unanimously approved by all nine. The State Department official who took part in the meetings has already stated Hillary didn’t intervene in the issue in any way.
Watch below as Fox News’ Shepard Smith explains the facts of the case. You’ll soon see why this is just another Trump-led attack on Hillary.
Shep Smith rips the Republican-fabricated Uranium One conspiracy theory to shreds#TrumpRussia #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/tFwcxn6YUC— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 21, 2017
News Round-Up: December 21, 2017
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| (via Instagram) |
Some news items you might have missed:
• Today’s Sexy Santa is Simon Dunn, rugby player and the first openly gay bobsleigh athlete to represent Australia, where they celebrate Christmas with “lots of seafood, beer and spend the day at the beach with family.”
• Some TV viewers have complained that drag queens were invited to join singer Jessie J in a performance of “Bang Bang” on the finale of NBC’s The Voice. In related news, drag queen RuPaul has won 2 Emmy Awards as “Best Host of Reality TV.” #GetWithItPeople
• It looks like openly gay New York City Councilman Corey Johnson will be the next City Council speaker. Johnson has also been open about his HIV+ status since 2013. When I lived in NYC he represented my neighborhood. Congrats Corey!
Congratulations to the next speaker of the @NYCCouncil, Corey Johnson. He’s been a force for the people of his district and I know he will bring that same commitment, passion, and energy to the speakership. I look forward to working with him on a progressive agenda for NYC. pic.twitter.com/2ddin8m5aV— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) December 21, 2017
• According to Lambda Legal, nearly one-third of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees are overtly hostile towards LGBT rights. #QuelSurprise
• OUT.com has made a list of the 25 Queerest Cities in America. Do you live in one? Check the list here.
• Attorney General Jeff Sessions has opened an inquiry into the 2010 Uranium One deal that Republicans have railed about regarding Hillary Clinton’s involvement. The State Department was one of nine agencies that agreed to approve the deal at the time after finding no threat to U.S. national security.
• New pop music from platinum-selling BØRNS – “I Want You Back” from his upcoming sophomore album, Blue Madonna, due out January 12, 2018.
The Associated Press called his 2015 debut album, Dopamine, “some of the most heartfelt electronic-based music in recent memory,” while Spin noted that BØRNS “writes brilliant pop songs that worm their way into your heart in an instant.”
Listen to the chill, EDM groove below.