LGBTQ news and entertainment
A friend on Facebook just shared this and it took me back. Waaaay back.
Oh yes, I grew up on PBS shows like The Electric Company, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Zoom 🙂
Good times.
And how about that cast for The Electric Company? Academy Award winners Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman? Plus Irene Cara, Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel? Dang, we had it good.
The show ran for 780 episodes from 1971 – 1977.
Watch the zippy show intro below.
I was thinking earlier this week that we need more music from the uber-talented Eli Lieb.
And here it is.
Eli shares on his Facebook page,”I’ve made a lot of life changes – You can hear about them in my new single, ‘Hollywood’. On to the next phase…”
The new song, “Hollywood,” paints a plaintive portrait of “broken angels,” “tired halos” and “the ghosts of Hollywood” in the City of Angels.
“So I’m leaving for a life that’s good, and I’m so fucking sick of Hollywood”
Journey on, Eli.
I’m a big fan of the singer/songwriter – you can find more of his music on The Randy Report here.
The new song is available on iTunes here, and you can watch the video below.
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| President Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechen Republic |
Human Rights Watch has published a report detailing the horrific treatment and torture of gay men in Chechnya.
According to the report, the speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, Magomed Daudov, was involved in authorizing the violence.
Radio Free Europe details the torture ranging from beatings to electrocution devices.
“All of the victims suffered repeated beatings,” the report said. “Security officials kicked them with booted feet, beat them with polypropylene pipes and sticks, and made other inmates beat them” — mostly on the men’s buttocks and legs.
“They put you face down on the floor and beat you with pipes,” one victim told Human Rights Watch. “Then they force other prisoners [held for allegedly supporting insurgents or for alleged drug offenses] to carry on with the beating. Each man gets some 70 to 80 blows. And so it goes…. And you literally turn black and blue from waist to toes.”
The rights group says local Chechen authorities also used electrocution devices to torture the victims.
Former detainees described those devices as machines with a knob on one side and wires sticking out of it with metal clips at the ends — clips which were attached to the victims’ fingers, toes, and earlobes.
“They turn the knob, electric current hits you, and you start shaking,” a former detainee told Human Rights Watch. “And they keep turning the hellish machine, and the pain is just insane. You scream and scream and you no longer know who you are.”
“Finally, you faint,” the former detainee continued. “It all goes dark. But when you come to your senses, they start all over again. And once they’re done with you and you get your bearings, you hear other inmates screaming. The sounds of torture are just there all day, and at some point you start losing your mind.”
Many of the victims were returned to their families where authorities suggested the relatives perform “honor killings”
Human Rights Watch urges the European Union and the United States to intervene and offer sanctuary to the victims.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has called on President Trump to address the human rights violations. Trump has not spoken publicly to date about the ongoing atrocities.
The Washington Post is reporting that President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has become a focus in the current investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Kushner, who held meetings in December with the Russian ambassador and a banker from Moscow, is being investigated because of the extent and nature of his interactions with the Russians, the people said.
The Washington Post reported last week that a senior White House official close to the president was a significant focus of the high-stakes investigation, though it did not name Kushner.
FBI agents also remain keenly interested in former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, but Kushner is the only current White House official known to be considered a key person in the probe.
The Post has not been told that Kushner is a target — or the central focus — of the investigation, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Target is a word that generally refers to someone who is the main suspect of investigators’ attention, though prosecutors can and do bring charges against people who are not marked with that distinction.
According to reports, Kushner did not include December meetings with Russian officials on his security clearance forms.
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| Instastud Alex Abramov |
Hey, hey, hey – it’s Red Nose Day!
Launched in 2015, this campaign is all about helping kids and working to end child poverty.
And from now until June 15, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match every dollar raised through Facebook up to $1 million. That means your dollars will do double the good.
Here’s some official info about the campaign.
Red Nose Day is a fundraising campaign run by the non-profit organization Comic Relief Inc., a registered U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity.
Red Nose Day brings people together to have fun, raise money and change the lives of kids who need our help the most.
Red Nose Day launched in the US in 2015, dedicated to ending child poverty, both in the US and in some of the poorest communities in the world. The money raised by Red Nose Day in the US has benefited programs for children and young people in all 50 states and in 25 countries internationally.
Globally, Red Nose Day has raised over $1 billion since its launch in the UK in 1988.
The money raised by Red Nose Day benefits children in some of the neediest communities in the US and some of the poorest communities in the world. Partner charities include Boys & Girls Clubs of America; charity: water; Children’s Health Fund; Covenant House; Feeding America; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; National Council of La Raza; Save the Children and The Global Fund.
All of Red Nose Day’s grant money supports projects to keep children and young people safe, healthy, educated and empowered.
Here’s a link to the official Red Nose website for more info, and click here to donate on Alex Abramov’s Facebook page (since I’m sharing his Red Nose Day pic) where your dollars get doubled.
Super model Tyson Beckford, currently headlining as the Celebrity Guest Host at Chippendales in Las Vegas, issued a challenge to Entertainment Tonight host Cameron Mathison to come take “the Beckford boot camp” to see if the TV host could cut it as a Chippendale.
Aided by Chipps cast mates, Tyson taught Mathison through secrets of being a Chippendale.
Apparently, “the shirt rip” is not quite as easy as it looks. Fortunately, Mathison had expert backup with Beckford and the men of Chippendales.
Then there’s the pre-show workout before Tyson brought Mathison onstage before a live audience to show-off a bit of what he’d learned.
And the crowd goes wild…
Tyson Beckford’s run at Chippendales has been extended due to popular demand, so head out to Vegas and check him and the Chipps out at the Rio Hotel and Casino.
Speaking to fellow heads of state in front of NATO’s new headquarters, President Trump called out those countries who he feels do not contribute their fair share.
From CNN:
“Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense,” Trump said, delivering these remarks as heads of state of the other NATO countries looked on. “This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States,” Trump said.
“2% is the bare minimum for confronting today’s very real and very vicious threats,” Trump said. “If NATO countries made their full and complete contributions, then NATO would be even stronger than it is today, especially from the threat of terrorism.”
Nato members must “contribute their fair share” to fight terror, immigration & threats from Russia – President Trump https://t.co/Q8qmAhhkn7 pic.twitter.com/iPWMCEmQ79— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 25, 2017
You can see the reaction of some of those countries’ leaders below. They look quite enchanted, no?
And then there was this winning moment when Trump pushed Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic aside so that he could stand in front of the group.
I guess this is what Trump means by “America first.”
Watch below.
Get ready for a new Twitter rant from Donald Trump.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, located in Virginia, has upheld an injunction against President Trump’s travel ban from six Muslim-majority countries.
The executive order would have banned people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days.
As I recall, the point of the “ban” was to give the Trump administration time to examine ways to improve national security. But, hasn’t it been more than 90 days by now anyway? Haven’t they figured out what it was they wanted to figure out?
The ruling notes that Trump’s executive order “speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.”
See the text below.
BREAKING: 4th Circuit largely affirms nationwide injunction blocking Trump travel ban https://t.co/GYZGcjPoAi pic.twitter.com/0vRlp8B36d— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) May 25, 2017
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| Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development |
The New York Times reports that the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson who has no background in housing, told Armstrong Williams at SiriusXM Radio that poverty is “a state of mind.”
“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview that was released on Wednesday. “You take somebody that has the right mind-set, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.” He added that helping people may not better their lives. “You take somebody with the wrong mind-set, you can give them everything in the world — they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,” Mr. Carson said.
And Twitter had a field day:
Ben Carson said poverty is a state of mind.Next month, I’m going to tell my landlord that I paid my rent with positive thinking!
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) May 24, 2017
I just imagined a few million into my bank account, thanks Ben Carson https://t.co/uYqFjQwWXR— thomas a moore 🎈 (@Thomas_A_Moore) May 24, 2017
Poverty is a state of mind Ben Carson? Tell that to a kid who can’t afford lunch for school or won’t have anything to eat for dinner.— still kimberly (@bkimberlyb) May 24, 2017
Ben Carson Says ‘Poverty Is a State of Mind’.So if your kids are hungry today, just think them up a hamburger.
— Chris Downing (@chrisdowning) May 25, 2017
Ben Carson says that poverty is a “state of mind.”
Tell that to my low-income students whose parents struggle w/the basic necessities.— Talia (@2020fight) May 25, 2017