Category: Uncategorized

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Senate Majority Leader Admits Repubs May Not Pass “Repeal/Replace” Healthcare Bill

Sen. Mitch McConnell

Speaking at a Rotary Club event today in Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) acknowledged that Senate Republicans may not be able to pass their ObamaCare repeal legislation.

In doing so, McConnell signaled what might be interpreted as a sign that he’s open to bipartisan stabilizing of insurance markets.

“If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement… then some kind of action with regard to private health insurance markets must occur.”

From The Hill:

Republicans have campaigned for years on repealing and replacing ObamaCare, arguing the Affordable Care Act is “failing” and in a “death spiral,” and insisting the law is not fixable.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) touted McConnell’s comments, saying the Kentucky Republican “opened the door to bipartisan solutions.”

“It’s encouraging that Sen. McConnell today acknowledged that the issues with the exchanges are fixable,” Schumer said. “As we’ve said time and time again, Democrats are eager to work with Republicans to stabilize the markets and improve the law. At the top of the list should be ensuring cost-sharing payments are permanent, which will protect health care for millions.”

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News Round-Up: July 6, 2017

Matthew Camp

Some news stories you may have missed:

• The pic above is one of hottie designer Matthew Camp’s more ‘innocent’ posts on his Instagram.

• A gay orgy was reportedly held in the Vatican City apartment of a high ranking Vatican official. The Pope is apparently really pissed…

• Did you hear about the “Gays For Trump” rally in Washington, D.C.? The one that had only 18 people show up?

• Fox News host Trish Regan suggested that it would “do a lot in terms of saving a lot of lives” if the U.S. sent in assassins to kill “crazy fat kid,” North Korea President Kim Jong-Un.

• A gay man in Belfast has suffered years of homophobic attacks including stones being thrown through his windows last week.

• After years of legal battles with her former producer, pop star Kesha has released her first single, “Praying.” The track is from her upcoming album, Rainbow.

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Did The Polish First Lady Diss Donald Trump’s Handshake?

Folks are pointing to this moment today when it appeared that the First Lady of Poland dissed Donald Trump, walking past him to shake Melania Trump’s hand.

I’m no fan of the Donald’s, but just keeping it real – Poland’s First Lady does immediately turn and shake DT’s hand after Melania’s.

Was it the men and women shaking each other’s hands first, or was it a diss?

What do you think?

The Trumpster did seem unhappy here
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New Zealand: MP Moves Parliament By Sharing Her Uncle Killed A Gay Man

A powerful and moving speech by Green MP Marama Davidson at the New Zealand Parliament, which is considering legislation that would pardon gay men convicted of homosexual behavior.

Davidson shares an emotional, personal example of the impact on her family of homophobia, remembering a young gay man who was killed by Davidson’s uncle in the 1980s.

From the New Zealand Herald:

Her voice breaking, Marama spoke of the man during Parliament’s formal apology to the men convicted for consensual acts at a time homosexuality was illegal.

“I want to acknowledge in particular a young man who was murdered for being gay when I was a young girl … I think about what he lost in his life.

“Maybe he might have chosen to be a father with a lover, with a husband. Maybe he might have been an amazing uncle. Maybe he might have been a grandfather. Who knows, because he lost his life.

“I send my love to his family because the person who stole his life was my family.”

Davidson later explained that in the 80s, her uncle had reacted violently when propositioned by a gay man. Her uncle punched the man, who ended up in the water on Wellington’s waterfront and drowned.

The uncle was convicted of manslaughter and was killed in prison himself.

The bill of apology passed unanimously in New Zealand’s Parliament. The legislation would allow about 1,000 men with convictions for homosexuality to apply for pardons. The families of men who have passed away would be able to apply on their behalf.

Watch MP Davidson speak below. She references her personal connection to the legislation at the 1:30 mark.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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HRC To Trump: You Must Address Anti-Gay Torture In Chechnya With Russian President Putin

The Human Rights Campaign sent a letter from HRC President Chad Griffin to President Donald Trump urging Trump to forcefully raise concerns with Russian President Putin over Chechen attacks against gay and bisexual men.

“It is imperative that you forcefully raise this issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin when you meet him in Germany at the G-20 summit this week,” writes HRC President Chad Griffin. “I urge you to stand with the victims by calling on President Putin to take immediate action to bring the violence to an end and the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes to justice.”

Since news first broke in April, more than 100 gay and bisexual men have been arrested and detained without charge. While some have been set free, reports indicate that many remain in detention, where they have been beaten, tortured, and at least three have been killed.

Just last week, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution condemning the atrocities, and world leaders from British Prime Minister Theresa May to German Chancellor Angela Merkel have made it clear to President Putin that lawless detentions, arrests, torture, and murders of LGBTQ people are unacceptable.

HRC has repeatedly called on Secretary Tillerson and President Trump to forcefully condemn the atrocities in Chechnya. While Ambassador Haley and the State Department have issued statements, the White House has not addressed the crisis.

I am certain Trump has no plans to bring up the horrific treatment of gays in Chechnya.

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Woof: Olympian Gus Kenworthy Treats Twitter To ESPN Magazine “Body Issue” Shots

Gus Kenworthy

Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy shared a few pics from his upcoming appearance in the upcoming ESPN Magazine “Body Issue,” and wow, are we happy he did!

He also appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the photo shoot, where he was very, very charming 🙂

Sharing that he was completely naked in the snow for 6 hours, George Stephanopoulos asked whether his family weighed in on the decision to do the shoot. Gus replied, “My mom said, ‘You’re so brave.'”

Watch the interview segment below.

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Poland: Trump Criticizes U.S. Intelligence Agencies & Obama During Press Conference

At a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda today, Donald Trump broke with a longstanding tradition of not criticizing U.S. leaders or institutions while abroad.

Asked to definitively answer whether or not he believed Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, Trump attacked U.S. intelligence organizations and Barack Obama.

Via CNN:

Trump, asked about the fact the United States intelligence community has said it was Russia, compared that assessment to the eventually debunked claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the Iraq War.

“I think it was Russia but I think it was probably other people and or countries. I see nothing wrong with that statement,” Trump said. “Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure.”

He added, “I remember when I was sitting back listening about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, how everybody was 100% certain that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? That led to one big mess. They were wrong and it led to a mess.”

Trump slammed former President Barack Obama’s handling of Russian interference as he stood next to Duda, arguing that the former president “did nothing” to combat the interference.

“Why did he do nothing about it? He was told it was Russia by the CIA … and he did nothing about it,” Trump said. “They said he choked. I don’t think he choked. Well, I don’t think he choked. I think what happened was he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win the election and he said let’s not do anything about it. Had he thought the other way, he would have done something about it.”

NBC News fact-checked Trump’s response regarding whether Obama did “nothing” about the Russian intervention:

On Oct. 7, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence issued a statement explicitly saying that Russia was behind the election hacks. (“The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.”)

And two, the Obama administration sanctioned Russia for its interference. (“President Obama struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services,” the New York Times wrote on Dec. 29, 2016.)

Now you can legitimately argue that Obama didn’t do ENOUGH or EARLY ENOUGH against Russia. But you can’t say he did nothing.

Watch Trump’s response below. I’m sure he was dying to get out and answer the question for himself.

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The GOP Asks Hillary Clinton “Where’s Your (Healthcare) Plan?” And She Was Ready

In spite of the fact that Donald Trump and the Republicans are in control of both houses of Congress and the White House, after 7 years of bluffing and puffing about “repeal and replacing” Obamacare, Team GOP has no healthcare plan ready to go. Nothing.

The past six months were the “honeymoon” and they’ve got zilch to show for it.

So, today, the GOP tried deflecting to others. Here’s a tweet where they called out Hillary Clinton (why her? she lost the election) asking where her plan was.

Never fear, cause Hillary’s here. And, she’s prepared:

And the Twitterverse ate it up:

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News Round-Up: July 5, 2017

Gus Kenworthy/Instagram

Some news items you may have missed:

• Woofy out Olympian Gus Kenworthy shares the above from his ESPN Magazine “Body Issue” shoot.

• NPR tweeted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, but Trump supporters (who didn’t know what they were reading) took it to be “propaganda” against the Donald.

• Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler said transgender people serving in the military is as big a threat to national security as “North Korea, and Putin and ISIS.”

• The Colorado baker who refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple told the ladies at The View, “I don’t believe that Jesus would have made the cake if he had been a baker.” Joy Behar’s simple response: “Come on — Jesus would have made the cake.”

• A New York City man, indicted on hate crime charges, could face 15 years in prison for violently punching a lesbian on the subway as he shouted “dyke” and “faggots.” The victim suffered a concussion, fractured nose, a broken eye socket and multiple deep cuts.

• According to a new Pew Research Center poll, more Americans (56%) trust German Chancellor Angela Merkel than they do Donald Trump (46%).

• MSNBC’s Morning Joe had it’s biggest ratings ever the day after Donald Trump tweeted about the co-hosts. #SoMuchWinning

• Bonus “Just because” from Lony Pizarro, fitness model. Photo: Anthony Deeying

A post shared by Lony Pizarro (@lonypizarro) on Jun 30, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT

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GOP Congressman Records Political Video Inside Gas Chambers At Auschwitz

When you visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, where thousands were killed during World War II, you are asked to remain silent.

“You are in a building where the SS murdered thousands of people. Please maintain silence here: remember their suffering and show respect for their memory.”

But Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins posted a political video on YouTube Saturday where he shared his thoughts on building up the U.S. military while walking in and around the museum.

Higgins actually recorded some of the video standing in front of the gas chambers used to murder more than 6 million human beings which included primarily Jews but also gays and others of differing religions.

The museum posted a message to the Congressman saying that while “everyone has the right to personal reflections,” when visitors are inside the chambers “there should be mournful silence.”