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News Round-Up: October 18, 2017

(via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Ignacio Pérez Rey (above) ain’t afraid of no Hump Day.

• A disbarred former anti-LGBT Michigan assistant attorney general who terrorized an openly gay student at the University of Michigan says he wants his law license back because this is now Trump Nation: “With Donald Trump now in the White House, conservative Christians like me will no longer tolerate being railroaded by the liberal elite.”

• Democrat Doug Jones has (barely) taken the lead in the upcoming special election race for U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former U.S. Senate seat. Fox News puts the Dem one point ahead of anti-LGBT GOP candidate Roy Moore 46%-45%.

• The Defense Department has issued orders that no green card holders may enlist in the Army effective immediately. This is contrary to federal law which states any “alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence” may be enlisted in “any armed force.” #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm

• According to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll, 46% of those surveyed agree with Donald Trump that the mainstream media makes up “fake news” about Donald Trump. I disagree – I know many major news reporters and producers and they care about their reputations as professionals too much to lie just for a quick click.

• Watch below as Kellogg characters Tony the Tiger, Ernie Keebler and more share an important tomorrow’s Spirit Day message, encouraging everyone to speak out against bullying.

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Washington Post: Several Gold Star Families Have Not Heard From Donald Trump

Based on Donald Trump’s claim earlier this week that he had spoken to “every” family of fallen soldiers during his administration, The Washington Post did some research and have found at least 4 families that have not heard from Trump.

In all, seven Gold Star families contacted by The Post said they have had phone conversations with Trump. Most said they appreciated the gesture.

Four families said they have not received a call and were upset. One said Trump had not called but that they knew the late soldier would not want his death politicized.

Euvince Brooks’s son, Sgt. Roshain E. Brooks, 30, was killed Aug. 13 in Iraq. He has not heard from the White House. The president’s claim this week that he had called every military family to lose a son or daughter only upset the Brooks family more.

Brooks said that after watching the news on Tuesday night he wanted to set up a Twitter account to try and get the President’s attention.

“I said to my daughter, ‘Can you teach me to tweet, so I can tweet at the president and tell him he’s a liar?’” he said. “You know when you hear people lying, and you want to fight? That’s the way I feel last night. He’s a damn liar.”

Additionally, during a phone call to a grieving father, Trump promised to send the man a check for $25,000 and said he’d direct his staff to establish an online fundraiser for the family.

According to the father, neither happened.

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Out Music: George Michael “Fantasy” Featuring Nile Rodgers

As I reported yesterday, the late George Michael’s mega-hit album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 is set for re-release on October 20 and the documentary George Michael: Freedom will air this Saturday/October 21 at 9pm ET/PT on Showtime.

In celebration of the out artist’s body of work, take a look/listen to “Fantasy.” a reworked single by George Michael featuring Nile Rodgers currently on A-list rotation on BBC Radio 2.

Featuring a melange of “George Michaels” over the years, the track is exactly what you would expect of the pop superstar.

Take a look below, and click here to pre-order.

Also available for streaming here.

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“Dear Evan Hansen” Stars (Current & Future) Disco Down The Road

Ben Platt’s powerful star-making turn as a young high schooler in Broadway’s runaway hit Dear Evan Hansen is sadly coming to a close on November 19.

He’ll be replaced for six weeks by Noah Galvin (The Real O’Neals) followed by the current “Barnaby” in Hello Dolly!, Taylor Trensch, in January 2018.

The three actors appear in this short, light-hearted video where the trio meet up in the streets of New York City to kick-ball-change to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Getaway.”

There’s a bit of a “passing of the torch” as clip ends with Galvin and Trensch heading towards their future Broadway theater with Platt watches them walk away.

Aww….

Watch the video below.

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Hump Day: Med Student Marco

Today’s Hump/Hunk Day post is all about medical student/fitness guy Marco.

Remember, I’m just here to help you through the day 🙂

Check out just a few posts from his woofy Instagram account. Click over and follow him for more of the muscular med student.

A post shared by Marco (@runandlift) on Oct 8, 2017 at 7:38pm PDT

A post shared by Marco (@runandlift) on Apr 6, 2017 at 6:06pm PDT

A post shared by Marco (@runandlift) on Jun 20, 2017 at 6:00pm PDT

A post shared by Marco (@runandlift) on Aug 9, 2017 at 8:51pm PDT

Marco is totally giving you serious face:

A post shared by Marco (@runandlift) on Aug 30, 2017 at 7:22pm PDT

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Trump Denies Telling Grieving Widow “He Knew What He Was Signing Up For”

Donald Trump

Repeating her allegation that Donald Trump told a grieving military widow that “he knew what he was signing up for,” Congresswoman Frederica Wilson told the Washington Post today there were other witnesses in the car that overheard the comment.

The widow was Myeshia Johnson, whose husband Sgt. La David T. Johnson was gunned down along with three other soldiers in Niger on October 4.

Last night the news broke that Trump had told Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, “He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway.” This was according to Wilson, who late yesterday told The Post that she had overheard the call on a speakerphone while riding in a limousine with Johnson when Trump called, and that this exchange made the widow cry. This is what Trump claims was “fabricated,” which now has reporters speculating that Trump may have a recording or an official transcript.

But Wilson said in our interview she is sticking by the story, and she asserted that there were other witnesses in the car, including the driver and the aunt and uncle of the deceased soldier. “I was not the only one in the car,” she said.

“Mr. Trump is crazy,” Wilson told me. “He’s a liar. He’s proven to be a liar.” She said she was more “concerned about the circumstances around his death” than about what Trump said.

When I pressed Wilson on whether she was sticking by her account that she heard Trump say, “he knew what he was signing up for,” she said “yes.”

When I reiterated that Trump claims to have proof otherwise, she said, “How about you go get that proof and call me back?”

Trump disputed the allegation:

Today, the mother of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, corroborated Congresswoman Wilson’s account confirming she was present for the call.

“President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Jones-Johnson said.

Trump recently alleged that while he has called “every” fallen soldier during his presidency, President Obama and other past presidents didn’t make the same efforts.

The Associated Press reports they have found two military families who say they never heard from Trump after their family member died serving the country. The mother of Army Spec. Etienne Moore, 22, said she received neither a call nor a letter from the president.

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Ellen Interviews Las Vegas Security Guard: “I’m Doing Better Each Day”

Stephen Schuck, Jesus Campos and Ellen DeGeneres

Las Vegas security guard Jesus Campos, who first discovered the Las Vegas shooter who killed 58 and wounded hundreds in the deadliest shooting massacre in the United States, appeared on ELLEN today to share his story.

Via Billboard:

The appearance came just days after widely circulated reports that Campos — who was shot in the leg by one of the approximately 200 bullets Paddock fired through his hotel room door several minutes before he began his Oct. 1 assault on the 22,000 fans below — had disappeared.

“I’m doing better each day, slowly but sure, just healing physically and mentally,” said Campos. The soft-spoken security guard explained that he was called to check on Paddock’s room because of a security notification about the shooter’s door being left open for an extended period.

Coming up from the 31st floor to the 32nd, Campos said he was unable to open the door on the stairwell, which was blocked off, a situation that raised an alarm for him. After walking around a different way, Campos said he approached the room and saw a metal bracket holding the door to the blocked stairwell in place. After calling maintenance to check it out, Campos heard what he thought were “drilling” sounds shortly after, which turned out to be gunshots fired by Paddock.

As Campos walked back down the hallway away from Paddock’s room, he told DeGeneres that he heard the outer door slam, which he said caught Paddock’s attention. “As I was walking down I heard rapid fire and at first I took cover, I felt a burning sensation,” he said. “I went to go lift my pant leg up and I saw the blood. That’s when I called it in on my radio that shots had been fired.”

Campos was going to report that he was hit, but thinking fast, he used his cell phone to do so in order to keep the radio channel free. According to the revised timeline of the shooting, Campos — who was joined and comforted during the interview by Mandalay Bay building engineer Stephen Schuck — was shot in the leg nearly six minutes before Paddock began firing from his hotel room window.

Watch the interview below.

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AL GOP Senate Candidate Falsely Announces Taking A Knee During National Anthem Is “Against The Law”

Candidate Roy Moore

TIME Magazine reports that former Alabama Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court and current candidate for the U.S. Senate, Roy Moore, erroneously believes that professional athletes who take a knee during the national anthem are breaking the law.

(p.s. They aren’t)

In an interview with TIME magazine, the Alabama Republican argued that NFL players and others who have protested police violence are violating a section of the U.S. code which outlines how people should conduct themselves when the anthem is played. (The code merely outlines proper etiquette, and there are no legal penalties outlined in the law.)

“It’s against the law, you know that?” he said. “It was a act of Congress that every man stand and put their hand over their heart. That’s the law.” “If they didn’t have it in there, it would just be tradition. But this is law,” he said. “If we disobey this, what else are we going to disobey?

As the article states, U.S. Code 301 is not law but considered proper etiquette. If you read the few short lines of text, the word “should” not “shall” is used.

Moore himself has broken the law several times in his career. Once when he defied a court order to remove a statue of the Ten Commandments he had installed at his court house; and also when he ordered judges in his state to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which made marriage equality legal in all fifty states.

Folks on the right and left openly laughed at Moore on Twitter:

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LGBT History Month: Prop 8 Heroes Talk Coming Out & Wedding Day Memories

This LGBT History Month, marriage equality champions Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court Case that struck down Prop. 8 in California, sat down with newlyweds Niki and Carole Nakayama, owners of n/naka and known for Chef’s Table, to discuss their relationship and how Paul and Jeff’s story paved the way for marriage equality nationwide.

The wide-ranging conversation includes the quartet’s thoughts on coming out, what it feels like to get married, and sharing wedding news with friends, family, and co-workers.

“Getting married, it’s personal but as a gay couple it’s also universal because it gives us the language to go out into the world and affirm who we are in such a real way,” says Katami. “Cause you have to come out every day if you’re gay.”

“For me, I feel that it defined a certain level of authenticity that we were trying to do through food but now here it was in a whole other realm,” shared Ilda-Nakayama.

You can watch the full video below.

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly partnered with OUT on this new series of video shorts, entitled “One Stride, Many Journeys,” in celebration of National Coming Out Day (October 11).

Barefoot has been an ally to the LGBTQ community for the past 27 years and works with more 200 LGBTQ organizations worldwide.