The political director of Australia’s ABC delivers a brutal takedown of President Trump at the G20 summit.
His comments, in part:
The G20 became the G19 as it ended. On the Paris climate accords the United States was left isolated and friendless.
It is, apparently, where this US President wants to be as he seeks to turn his nation inward.
Donald Trump has a particular, and limited, skill-set. He has correctly identified an illness at the heart of the Western democracy. But he has no cure for it and seems to just want to exploit it.
He is a character drawn from America’s wild west, a travelling medicine showman selling moonshine remedies that will kill the patient.
He was an uneasy, awkward figure at this gathering and you got the strong sense some other leaders were trying to find the best way to work around him.
[snip]
But it is the unscripted Mr Trump that is real. A man who barks out bile in 140 characters, who wastes his precious days as President at war with the West’s institutions — like the judiciary, independent government agencies and the free press.
Some will cheer the decline of America, but I think we’ll miss it when it is gone.
Wow. A searing assessment of the President of the United States by political editor @CUhlmann of Australia’s ABC. pic.twitter.com/TnfUwAPkOP
Now that he’s back on American soil having returned from the G20 summit, Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to thoroughly confuse the world with messages that contradict each other.
First, Trump says he “pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I’ve already given my opinion…”
Not sure if that means he takes Putin at his word that he didn’t order election interference (when our intel community says he did) or not. The Russian Foreign Minister told press that Trump was “satisfied” by Putin’s denials. No top White House aide has disputed that claim.
Trump goes on to say he “discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded and safe.”
So, he’s going to team up with Putin to make sure election hacking will be guarded and safe? Or does he mean “guard against” election hacking?
And why would you team up with the guy who cyber-hacked our elections?
Isn’t that like the FBI asking the Mafia to form an anti-crime unit?
And finally, Trump says “sanctions were not discussed.” But this contradicts Tillerson, who told reporters sanctions were discussed between Trump and Putin.
Just another day in this wacky, tacky Trump world.
The G 20 Summit was a great success for the U.S. – Explained that the U.S. must fix the many bad trade deals it has made. Will get done!
I have half a shoe. I strongly pressed my dog, twice. He vehemently denies eating my shoe. I believe him. My dog will now oversee my shoes. https://t.co/0q6OKEFsf2— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) July 9, 2017
Made in collaboration with London Pride and BBC2 with their new documentary ‘Against The Law’ which will be released at the end of July.
This “chat across the ages” features openly gay 13 year-old Louis and openly gay 78 year-old Percy who have a chat about the differences 50 years have made on gay culture and acceptance.
Louis shares that he has a boyfriend and enjoys across the board support from his peers and family. Impressed, Percy tells him, “I think you’re so lucky the world has changed and you can just be yourself.”
As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in England and Wales, Percy shares what it was like to be gay at time when it was illegal.
Louis, taken aback, says, “It amazes me how they could even just say for loving someone, you’re being arrested. That completely shocks me.”
At the end of the chat, Louis asks for wisdom for future LGBTs, to which Percy shares, “Stand up for being gay, and for actually trying to make people understand that the most important thing is that you can love somebody and it doesn’t matter who they are. Love is love.”
Variety is reporting that Nelsan Ellis, famous for his role as the out and proud Lafayette Reynolds on HBO’s True Blood, has passed away at the age of 39 due to complications from heart failure.
“We were extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Nelsan Ellis,” HBO said in a statement. “Nelsan was a long-time member of the HBO family whose groundbreaking portrayal of Lafayette will be remembered fondly within the overall legacy of True Blood. Nelsan will be dearly missed by his fans and all of us at HBO.”
Ellis had joined the cast of CBS’ Elementary this season. Other prominent roles included The Help, Get On Up, Little Boxes and The Butler.
Ellis graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004.
Ellis is survived by his son, Breon, as well as seven siblings.
Ellis’ work on True Blood was exemplary for many reasons. Up front, “Lafayette” made it clear that although the character was gay, he was not “a victim.”
One of my favorite “Lafayette” scenes from True Blood:
RIP Nelsan Ellis who played Lafayette Reynolds on True Blood & gave us this iconic scene pic.twitter.com/AExLxYXIzx
Crushed today by the loss of my friend and castmate Nelsan Ellis. He was a wonderful person, a pioneer, and a one of a kind artist. RIP pic.twitter.com/fvtquhIac7— Joe Manganiello (@JoeManganiello) July 8, 2017
I don't know if I've ever seen the level of humility and kindness that came with the Magnificent Talent that Nelsan Ellis had. Miss u friend— Sam Trammell (@SamTrammell) July 8, 2017
Very disturbed and sad that Nelsan Ellis has died. Such a huge talent. Such a wonderful man. The world is a poorer place today…— Denis O'Hare (@denisohare) July 8, 2017
Construction sales rep and Marine veteran houseguest Cody Nickson, currently competing on CBS’ “Big Brother 19,” has offended some fans of the show with transphobic comments.
Nickson was discussing tucking, for some reason, with houseguest, Jessica Graf.
Nickson: “How does one tape his di*k down?”
Graf: “I don’t know. Isn’t that at thing?”
Nickson: “For trannies, I guess.”
Graf immediately covered his mouth, but Nickson continued: “Do you really think I could give a sh*t that like .0000001 percent of the population is fu*k*ng trannies. I don’t give a fu*k. I promise you they’re not expecting me to really fu*king sympathize with their psychological cause.”
Graf broached the subject with Nickson again later while talking with other houseguests.
Graf: “What you said this morning wasn’t that great either.”
Nickson: “What? Tranny? I don’t give a sh*t. Do you really think they’re going to come at a Marine Crops infantryman for fu*king saying the word tranny?”
Season 17 contestant, and first transgender competitor on the show, Audrey Middleton, warned that Nickson should be prepared to be unemployed after BB due to his transphobic remarks.
Cody the .0001% of the population isn’t going to sympathize when you lose your job… You’re going to care what we think then.. #BB19
Russian President Putin told the press today at the G20 summit that Donald Trump was “satisfied” with Putin’s denial of interference in the 2016 presidential election.
There was a certain degree of exulting in the Russian capital on Saturday in the wake of the first meeting between President Vladimir V. Putin and President Trump, with Mr. Putin himself saying that the American president seemed satisfied with his answers on the hacking issue and that the talks had set the stage for improved relations.
Asked repeatedly about the two presidents’ conversation about accusations of Russian hacking during the 2016 American election, Mr. Putin said at a news conference in Hamburg, Germany, that Mr. Trump had paid a lot of attention to the issue, asking multiple questions.
“When possible, I answered his questions in detail,” Mr. Putin said, noting that he had reviewed previous exchanges that he had had with former President Barack Obama on the topic. “I got the impression that my answers satisfied him.”
And asked repeatedly whether Mr. Trump believed his denials about Russian interference, Mr. Putin said each time that the reporter should ask the American president.
The two accounts of the meeting — one from Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and the other by the American secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, the only two officials in the room besides the two presidents — differed in some important details.
Notably, Mr. Tillerson said that Mr. Trump had confronted the Mr. Putin about Russian interference in the 2016 election during a “robust and lengthy” discussion. In Mr. Lavrov’s account, Mr. Trump accepted Mr. Putin’s denial.
“Believe Lavrov,” Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters on Saturday when asked about the divergent accounts. Some Russian officials expressed particular delight at that version.
While Putin advises asking Donald Trump about his take on the denial of interference, the fact is we can’t because unlike other major world leaders Trump failed to hold a press conference at the end of the G20 summit.
The fact is Trump isn’t really interested in finding out the truth. His own intelligence agencies have stated categorically that not only did Russia interfere in the 2016 elections, but they have gone so far as to say with confidence that it was by order of Putin.
For Trump to be “satisfied” with the denial of a Russian president over the word of the U.S. intelligence community is outrageous. It means the Donald would rather believe Putin than experienced U.S. intelligence agents.
And by the way, what did the Donald expect Putin to say when asked about the interference?
“Oops – you got me!” ???
Watch Putin’s press conference below. His answers regarding the Trump meeting begin around the :39 mark.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May issued a video message supporting London for sending out a “proud and positive message to the world” as London Pride takes place this weekend.
May underscored the UK’s pledge to support LGBT rights in other countries, and to take a stand against hate crime at home.
“Around the world, cruel and discriminatory laws still exist – some of them directly based on the very laws which were repealed in this country 50 years ago. So, the UK has a responsibility to stand up for our values and to promote the rights of LGBT Plus people internationally.”
“We must stamp out homophobic bullying in schools, and and drive down homophobic and transphobic hate crimes.”
“So as London once again sends a proud and positive message to the world, I wish everyone a fantastic Pride.”
Ivanka Trump briefly took her father’s seat at a G20 Summit session on Saturday, sitting next to world leaders including British Prime Minister Theresa May and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A photo posted to Twitter by a Russian G-20 representative shows Ivanka sitting at the table in place of President Trump.
Cabinet officials usually replace the president at those sessions when a stand-in is needed. But Ivanka Trump, an official adviser to the president, took his place instead.
“Ivanka was sitting in the back and then briefly joined the main table when the president had to step out,” the White House said in response to the photo. The topic at hand concerned one of Ivanka Trump’s projects, the World Bank finance initiative for women entrepreneurs.
Any number of cabinet officials, like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, could have sat in for Trump. Instead, his daughter, with no qualifications other than her last name, sits down next to world leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ivanka Trump, unelected, unqualified, daughter-in-chief, is representing the US at the G20 summit next to May, Xi, Merkel. Photo @LanaLukashpic.twitter.com/fvs0EMy8z7
Ivanka fills in for her dad beside Xi Jinping. To me, it feels banana-republicky for the US to be represented by an inexperienced daughter. https://t.co/lDDlyCeFp9
Anti-trans bathroom measure, I-1552, will not qualify for the 2017 ballot in Washington State.
From Washington Won’t Discriminate:
Pop the champagne bottles: We just defeated I-1552!
Backers of this dangerous initiative needed to submit 260,000 valid petition signatures to the Secretary of State by 3PM today to qualify for the ballot. They didn’t even show up to hand over their petitions.
No signatures = automatic disqualification.
I-1552 will NOT be on Washington’s November ballot. And our state’s long-standing non-discrimination laws will continue to provide protections against discrimination for ALL Washingtonians—including our transgender family members, neighbors, coworkers, and friends.
And the HRC celebrates:
“Anti-equality activists spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to pass a shameful ballot measure aimed at discriminating against LGBTQ people, but thanks to the fair-minded people of Washington State, they have failed,” said Marty Rouse, HRC National Field Director.
“For months, our opponents attempted to garner enough signatures to put the fundamental civil rights of transgender people on the ballot.
“Their failure is a victory for equality and validation of Washington’s non-discrimination laws that ensure fair and equal treatment for LGBTQ people in housing, employment, and public accommodations.
A little #FlashBackFriday as I remember this awesome performance by Liza Minnelli in 1989 at the “Grammy Living Legends” Awards.
The song she performs here, “Losing My Mind,” from Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, was another reinvention for the EGOT winner.
I remember watching the show live, and was knocked out by the completely captivating movement and “new look” for Minnelli.
The track is from Minnelli’s 1989 masterpiece Results, produced by the Pet Shop Boys, and will be reissued as a 3CD+DVD deluxe set this August in the UK.
Super Deluxe Edition reports the edition will have 21 remixes, and a DVD featuring music videos and television appearances.
