For every “Bernie or Bust-er” and Jill Stein supporters:
Bill Maher took time this past Friday night during his “New Rules” segment to ask those Liberals who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton how they are feeling now that President Trump has passed his 100th day in the White House.
“This isn’t about reliving the last election or my great love for Clinton, which never was, but this is about winning the next election,” Maher said. “And that begins with learning the difference between an imperfect friend and a deadly enemy.”
After noting how various liberal politicians, activists and commentators had said that either a Trump or Clinton administration would be a disaster, Maher asked whether conservatives would now control the Supreme Court if the “just-as-evil-Hillary” had won.
“Just wait until the 5 to 4 decisions start rolling in, gutting unions, making it harder for minorities to vote, siding with polluters, overturning abortion rights,” he said. “Then maybe you’ll join me in saying to the liberal purists, go fuck yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber.”
This past Thursday was quite the day for President Trump and House Republicans as Trumpcare finally came up for a vote on the Floor of the House and the bill passed (by a slim margin of 217-213).
Team Trumpcare then headed up to the White House Rose Garden where it was all smiles in front of the news cameras for the jubilant crowd.
You’d have thought they’d won the Super Bowl.
In fact, the American Health Care Act is only one third of the way through the process of becoming law, so this was kind of like spiking the football on the 35 yard line.
As everyone knows, a bill goes from the House to the Senate, where changes are made, then sent back to the House for approval of those changes.
And if they make more changes, the legislation continues back and forth between chambers until there’s majority agreement.
Then, the bill heads to the President, who signs it into law.
I’d guess that Donald Trump didn’t have the luxury of watching School House Rock back in the 1970s like all of us.
Since we’re discussing it, why don’t we take a trip in the “way back machine” and revisit that oh-so-learned ditty, “I’m Just A Bill.”
Someone might want to send a link of this post to the prez just so he can bone up on how this all works 🙂
This week, MSNBC’s Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced they are indeed dating and now engaged!
Cue the Saturday Night Live sketch where Kate McKinnon as “Mika Brzezinski” and Alex Moffat as “Joe Scarborough” can’t seem to stay focused on news issues as they have other things on their minds.
To the shock of their journalist guests, they devolve into google-eyed, ovey-dovey cute talk.
Oh – and they take a call from a “new publicist” at the Trump White House named “John Miller.”
Tennessee state Sen. Mark E. Green, President Trump’s second nominee for Secretary of the Army, has withdrawn his name from contention for the position following weeks of outrage and phone calls made in light of past anti-LGBT rhetoric.
Human Rights Campaign members alone made over 6,800 calls to the U.S. Senate expressing their concern for his past anti-LGBT comments.
Five Democratic Senators, including Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), had announced this week they could not vote in favor of his nomination.
Even veteran Republican Sen. John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had said that Green’s past comments about gays and lesbians and Muslims are “very concerning” and that Green would need to explain himself to the committee.
Additionally, it appears Secretary of Defense James Mattis had lost confidence in Green. When asked whether Mattis still supported Green’s nomination, the Pentagon declined to comment.
Green has said transgender people are an “evil” that must be “crushed” and compared them to terrorists; he told a Tea Party group that being transgender is a “disease.” As a right-wing state senator, he encouraged Tennessee officials to defy the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. He also sponsored an anti-transgender bill and opposed nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people. He was also caught crudely criticizing the integration of transgender people in the military, writing on Facebook that, “Mr. Obama supports transvestites in uniform but you cannot have a bible on your desk, saying it disrupts good order in the military.”
Had he been confirmed, Green would have replaced Eric Fanning as Secretary of the Army. Fanning was the first openly gay man to serve in the position.
Vincent Viola, a Wall Street billionaire who was Trump’s first Army Secretary nominee, removed himself from consideration in February saying he was unable to appropriately clear conflict-of-interest rules.
In a statement on Friday, Green cast himself as the victim:
“Tragically, my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle for political gain.
“While these false attacks have no bearing on the needs of the Army or my qualifications to serve, I believe it is critical to give the president the ability to move forward with his vision to restore our military to its rightful place in the world.”
Some news items you may have missed: • Happy 34th birthday to SUPERMAN star, hunky Henry Cavill! • The ACLU calls President Trump’s Religious Liberty executive order “fake news” not worth suing over, while anti-LGBT foe Brian Brown rants that Trump failed to protect Christians from homosexual persecution. • Bermuda’s high court legalized same-sex marriage today, becoming the 7th of the 14 British Overseas Territories to now have marriage equality. • Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has demonstrated his lack of empathy for folks in the past, announced today he would consider opting-out of the pre-existing condition policies under the Affordable Care Act, should Trumpcare pass in it’s present form. Which it won’t. I’m guessing he just wanted to be extra douche-y today. • Broadway leading man, Ramin Karimloo (currently starring in ANASTASIA), shared this today on Instagram for #FlashbackFriday, and I couldn’t stop listening 🙂
Me (2nd from the left) during my CATS days in 1987
I don’t do many Flashback Friday posts, but I’m thinking of a dear friend from my CATS days in the 1980s who recently passed away.
In light of that passing, several of my former cast mates have shared pics from the 1986-1988 national tour of CATS, which was my first big job in theater. For two years I was “the magical Mr. Mistoffelees” traveling across the country. Our company was the first to share the hit musical with major American cities like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Louisville, Miami, Memphis and more.
This picture, which I’ve never seen, shows me as a scruffy-faced 24 year old at some opening night party somewhere in America. How I painted over that furry face, I can’t recall.
Also in the photo are Austin Jetton, Jackie Reilly, Jonathan Cerullo and now big-time Broadway conductor Patrick Vaccariello.
It was around this time last year that many of my CATS family gathered together to take in the new Broadway revival of the show. All the chemistry, all the quirks I love about these folks, all came back in seconds 🙂
It’s stirring how the passing of old friends reminds us of the power of our long-time friends.
