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News Round-Up: February 17, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• This 22 year St. Louis police veteran (above) was told to “tone down” his “gayness” if he ever wanted to get promoted, despite placing 3rd out of 26 in promotion tests.

• Lady Gaga joined over 140 celebrities in denouncing Texas’ anti-transgender “bathroom bill.”

• Donald Trump’s second pick for National Security Adviser (now that Michael Flynn has resigned) has said “no, thank you” to the offer. According to reports, retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward turned down the chance citing “chaos” in the White House, labeling the offer as a “shit sandwich.”

• Finland’s Parliament rejects a citizen’s initiative to repeal marriage equality by a vote of 120 to 48. Hurray for the good guys!

• Donald Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago again this weekend. His three trips to his southern home have thus far cost the American people almost $10 million. Guarding Trump Tower in NYC could cost $183 million a year.

• Spend a few minutes inside the trials and tribulations of transgender folks in this short film, “Headspace,” by Jake Graf. Watch below:

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Trump News Conference: “One For The Ages?”

President Trump’s press conference yesterday was easily THE news of the day.

Folks from all over the political spectrum couldn’t turn away.

Far-right talk radio’s Rush Limbaugh called it “one of the most effective press conferences I have ever seen.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper described it as “unhinged” and an airing of grievances à la Festivus.

Then there was this reaction on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today:

And, of course, the late night comics had a field day:

Jimmy Kimmel: “Except for ‘Fox & Friends,’ the president is extremely angry at the news media. Apparently, he spends a lot of time watching people talk about him and it gets him riled up. Would someone unplug his TV and take his phone away before we all get blown to smithereens here?”

Stephen Colbert: “It was a robust one hour and 17 minutes long. That is beefy. So beefy, you could eat it with a fork. But you’re going to want to use a spoon to get every drop of the crazy.”

Trevor Noah: “We had a really nice show planned for you — very civil, very calm — and then, in the middle of the day, Hurricane Trump happened. Again.”

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New “Kiss Cam” Video Celebrates All Forms Of Love Between All People

Oh, sweet mother of humanity. Here’s something to lift you up and make you feel good.

Filmed at this year’s NFL Pro Bowl. From Ad Week:

The new 2:40 video has some inspired fun with a longstanding tradition at sporting events, the Jumbotron kiss cam, which finds couples in the crowd and encourages them to kiss. This time, though, the kiss cam is used, in the Ad Council’s words, as a “symbol for unbiased love” by featuring all forms of love—friendships, families and romantic relationships—across race, religion, gender, sexuality, ability and age.

The stunt begins with a fun bit of misdirection, as the first couple encircled by the kiss cam’s heart shape are a man and a woman. But the man then turns to his right and kisses his actual partner, who is a man—to cheers from the crowd.

The rest of the video, titled “Fans of Love,” continues in a similar way, featuring all sorts of real people and relationships as a way to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion.

“The NFL is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion. We are proud to be working with the Ad Council on their Love Has No Labels campaign,” added Anna Isaacson, the NFL senior vice president of social responsibility.

The campaign points to lovehasnolabels.com, which features a quiz to help people examine their own biases and resources on how to take actionable steps to rethink those biases. An interactive “Fans of Love” video will present relevant campaign facts and links to educational content to audiences as they are watching the film.

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Fox News’ Shepard Smith Defends Media From Trump: ‘Demonstrably, Unquestionably, 100 Percent False’

Just goes to show you there are fair and balanced journalists at Fox News.

Of course it would be the gay news anchor 🙂

The Week has the details:

President Donald Trump praised Fox News during his combative press conference Thursday, but he certainly would not have liked what he saw if he turned on his TV afterward.

Fox News’ Shep Smith did not hold back when tearing into the president after the presser: “It’s crazy what we’re watching everyday,” Smith said. “It’s absolutely crazy. [Trump] keeps repeating throwaway lines that are not true at all and sort of avoiding this issue of Russia as if we’re some kind of fools for asking the question.”

As Smith went on, it appeared to occur to him that the president could be watching. He turned to stare directly into the camera and began to address Trump directly: “No sir,” Smith said. “We are not fools for asking the question and we demand to know the answer to this question. You owe this to the American people.”

All kinds of awesome. Watch below:

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BREAKING: Michael Flynn Told FBI He Did Not Discuss Sanctions With Russian Officials

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn may be in legal trouble for lying to the FBI when he was interviewed about his contact with Russian officials during the Trump transition period.

From the Washington Post:

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.

The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy, as lying to the FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department. Some officials said bringing a case could prove difficult in part because Flynn may attempt to parse the definition of sanctions.

A spokesman for Flynn said he had no response. The FBI declined to comment.

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President Trump: I Won By The Biggest Margin Since Reagan (So I Am Told)

President Trump has promoted the idea that his win in the presidential campaign was “the largest margin since Ronald Reagan.”

He was asked about that today at a press conference.

When presented with actual electoral votes by previous presidents since Reagan (Obama 333 votes, George H.W. Bush 426 votes), Trump backtracked by saying “I was given that information.”

Watch below:

Trump also declared during the presser: “The leaks are real. The news is fake.”

I’m not sure how, if the “leaks” are real – the information leaked is real – how are the news stories about those leaks “fake?”

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Unanimous Ruling From Washington State Supreme Court Against Anti-Gay Florist

Barronelle Stutzman


ABC News reports that Barronelle Stutzman, the Washington state florist who refused to sell wedding flowers to a same-sex couple in 2013, has lost again in court.

This time it was a unanimous ruling from the nine Washington state Supreme Court justices who ruled Stutzman discriminated against the gay couple in 2013 according to the state’s public accommodation laws.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the couple sued her, saying she broke state anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws, and the lower court agreed.

Today, the state’s highest court upheld that verdict.

Stutzman’s supporters maintain the ruling could “bankrupt” her. The penalty for the public accommodation violation is $1,000. Virulently anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom is handling her court case for free.

Stutzman’s defense was that she had previously sold flowers to the couple, but had to refrain on wedding flowers due to her personal religious beliefs. She feels selling flowers for a wedding she is not attending amounts to “promoting” or “supporting” same-sex marriage.

Stutzman’s lawyers say they will now take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Hillary Clinton Attends Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard” To Standing Ovation

(image via Facebook)

Hillary Clinton attended last night’s performance of Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, and upon entering the theater received a long and resounding standing ovation.

See, Donald? When you do something the people appreciate, we applaud.