Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

George Michael Quietly Donated Millions To Help Abused & Bullied Children

George Michael

As the world reels from the passing of pop music star George Michael, we learn he was even more generous in private than most knew.

Michael had secretly been giving millions to a charity that helped UK children who were the target of abuse and/or bullying.

Via The Irish Times:

Behind the headlines and huge on-stage persona, George Michael was a generous man who kept quiet about his considerable charitable donations, it has emerged. The star donated all the royalties from his 1996 number one single Jesus To A Child to charity, and is said to have given a gameshow contestant thousands of pounds to fund her IVF treatment.

Michael has helped countless children as a result of his donations to Childline, the charity’s founder and president Dame Esther Rantzen said. “For years now he has been the most extraordinarily generous philanthropist, giving money to Childline, but he was determined not to make his generosity public so no-one outside the charity knew how much he gave to the nation’s most vulnerable children,” she told the Press Association.

“Over the years he gave us millions and we were planning next year, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations to create, we hoped, a big concert in tribute to him — to his artistry, to his wonderful musicality but also to thank him for the 100s of 1,000s of children he helped through supporting Childline.”

From Childline’s official website:

Childline is here to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through. Whether it’s something big or small, our trained counsellors are here to support you.

Childline is free, confidential and available any time, day or night. You can talk to us on the phone, by email or through 1-2-1 counsellor chat. Whatever feels best for you.

Our counsellors are trained staff and volunteers. All sorts of people become Childline counsellors. They could be 16 or 60. They could be gay or straight – or anywhere in between. They come from lots of different backgrounds and places.

What they all have in common is they want to help young people.

They’re real people who want to support you with any issue you’re facing. They’re trained but they don’t follow a script.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

Posted on

Donald Trump Announces He Will Dissolve His “Charitable” Foundation

Donald Trump announced Saturday he plans to dissolve the Trump Foundation in an effort to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest during his administration.

The president-elect has also said recently that he hopes to shares plans to disassociate himself from his business, the Trump Organization, to avoid conflicts of interest as president of the United States.

Trump likes to boast about the many organizations that have received donations over the years that have benefited from his foundation – veterans, law enforcement and children’s groups.

What Trump often leaves out is the fact that he hasn’t donated any of his own money to his foundation since 2008. And the fact that the “charity” is under investigation for using foundation funds to settle private debts which may make “dissolving” the foundation illegal at this point.

More from CNN:

The Trump transition said Trump directed his counsel to take the necessary steps to dissolve the foundation, which has no employees or active fundraising operation. The foundation also was forced to stop fundraising in New York State after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a cease-and-desist order in October citing the foundation’s failure to properly register with the state.

And an ongoing investigation launched by Schneiderman over allegations Trump used the charity to settle private legal disputes in which he was involved may prevent Trump from shuttering the foundation.

“The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” Amy Spitalnick, the attorney general’s press secretary, said in an email. She also confirmed the foundation’s fundraising activities “remain suspended.”

Posted on

Donald Trump’s Christmas Tweet Gets Bigly Thumbs Down From Internet

The internet got quite a kick out of President-elect Donald Trump’s rather narcissistic Christmas tweet.

Most high-level elected officials share heartwarming images of family – children, grand-children, spouses, etc. But this year? No Melania, Don Jr., Eric; not even Ivanka made the cut.

The Trumpster decided to share a Photoshopped pic of his upraised (tiny) fist set against the backdrop of a Christmas tree. He didn’t even take the time to sit for the shot – he used a screen capture from a recent rally.

Not very warm and holiday-fuzzy, in my opinion.

It appears I’m not alone in my assessement:

Posted on

George Michael Passes Away At 53

2016 takes another as we get news that out singer George Michael, who sold more than 100 millions albums, has passed away at the age of 53.

From the BBC:

The star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and later continued his success as a solo performer, is said to have “passed away peacefully at home”.

Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT.

Police say they were treating the death as unexplained but there were no suspicious circumstances.

In a statement, the star’s publicist said: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.

“The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”

And from Rolling Stone:

Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London on June 25th, 1963. His first single with Wham!, “Young Guns (Go for It!),” came out in 1982, when he was 19, and became an immediate hit in the U.K. single, making it to Number Three there. They had a major international hit in 1984 with the danceable pop single “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” which went to Number One on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo also scored Number One hits in the U.S. with the soulful ballad “Careless Whisper” and the catchy “Everything She Wants.”

Although “Careless Whisper” appeared on Wham!’s Make It Big album, it came out as a George Michael solo single in 1984. Three years later, he put out his solo debut LP, Faith, which went to Number One on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to singles like the title track, “Father Figure” and “I Want Your Sex.” The album sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. His follow-up, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, made it to Number Two in the U.S., thanks to “Praying for Time” and “Freedom ’90.”

His popularity as a solo artist waned in the Nineties, but he experienced a comeback with 2004’s Patience, which debuted at Number One on the UK albums chart and peaked at Number 12 on the Billboard 200. His 2014 album, Symphonica, which found him singing with a symphony, went gold in the U.K.

The BBC reports that Michael was reportedly working on a new album with producer and songwriter Naughty Boy earlier this month.

Posted on

Holiday Radio Show: The Candi & Randy Show

From The Candi & Randy Show archives, our holiday radio show from back in 2013:

Candi and I chat with our special guests Olivia Newton-John, Vanessa Williams, Judy Collins and Matt Zarley, who share their favorite Christmas traditions and memories.

Plus, Gerald McCullouch of “BearCity,” CSI” and the web series “Hustling” gives us an impromptu sing-a-long.

We also share some of our guests’ best holiday music to set the perfect mood during the holiday season.

Posted on

Trump Comm Director Jason Miller Abruptly Resigns Amid Sex Scandal Rumors

The new administration hasn’t even taken over yet, but it looks like there’s already rumors of a sex scandal within Team Trump.

Via the New York Daily News:

Donald Trump’s inner circle was thrown into turmoil Saturday when his newly-named White House communications director resigned after a transition team staffer posted cryptic tweets suggesting he’s a philanderer.

Jason Miller announced that he won’t be joining the Trump administration just two days after he was tapped to lead the White House communications team.

Miller said in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“It’s clear they need to be my top priority right now, and this is not the time to start a new job as demanding as White House communications director,” said Miller, whose wife is expecting their second child.

But AJ Delgado, a senior advisor in Trump’s transition team, posted several tweets hinting that Miller was at the center of a sex scandal.

“Congratulations to the baby-daddy on being named WH Comms Director!” she wrote in one now-deleted tweet.

“The 2016 version of John Edwards,” she wrote in another, referring to the disgraced ex-Democratic senator who fathered a child with his mistress.

You’ll recall both Miller and Delgado famously spent the night before the last presidential debate at a Las Vegas strip club.

Note: there were no sex scandals during the Obama administration.

Posted on

Trump Joins Russian President In Trashing Hillary Clinton

Placing his ego ahead of the country, President-elect Trump took to Twitter to agree with Russian President Putin on trashing Hillary Clinton.

From The Washington Post:

President-elect Donald Trump late Friday publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for attacking Trump’s former Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. In a striking statement that seems to further align Trump with Putin, the incoming U.S. president tweeted that he agreed with the Russian leader’s assessment that Clinton and the Democratic Party generally have not shown “dignity” following widespread loses in the November election.

“So true!” Trump tweeted of Putin’s comments, apparently referencing statements the Russian made at his year-end news conference. Trump’s expressed admiration of Putin came only hours after he released to the media a warm letter the Russian sent him. The Friday night tweet sparked cries of alarm from former U.S. officials and other Trump critics on social media.

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Obama, tweeted Friday night that Trump’s praise of Putin was “unprecedented.” Evan McMullin, a Republican former CIA operative who ran unsuccessfully against Trump as an independent candidate, called Friday night for Republican leaders to condemn Trump’s “alliance” with Putin.

Trump is so eager to accept any sense of praise that he doesn’t see he’s being played by Putin. #sad

Posted on

President Obama And First Lady Michelle Obama Celebrate Final Christmas In White House

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama celebrate their final holiday season at the White House.

Join them in supporting America’s service members at JoiningForces.gov.

“Merry Christmas everybody!…Celebrating the holidays in the White House over these past eight years has been a true privilege. We’ve been able to welcome over half a million guests, our outstanding pastry chefs have baked 200,000 holiday cookies, and Barack has treated the American people to countless dad jokes. Although a few got a Frosty reception.”

Posted on

President Obama On Agreeing With Hecklers On Issues Like DADT

Speaking to The Atlantic, President Obama notes some of the difficulties in trying to get things done as president:

There have been times where, let’s say on LGBT issues, when we were trying to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and I got the Pentagon and Bob Gates, a Republican holdover from the Bush administration, to authorize a study of how you might end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, headed up by Jeh Johnson, who at that time was a council to the Justice Department. And it was going to take a year to conduct that study, issue a report, and figure out how it might be implemented, what effect it would have on unit cohesion and military effectiveness.

And I had laid out this strategy because if I could get the Pentagon’s imprimatur on this thing, then I knew that we could end up getting legislation passed to reverse the policy, and we could get the branches of all the military to implement it.

But during the course of that year, probably every speech I gave, I’d have gay activists just screaming at me during rallies. And you just say, ‘Come on, man. Not only do I agree with you, but I’ve actually got a strategy to execute, we are executing it, and in what sense do you think that you yelling at me here is going to advance your cause?’”

(h/t Queerty)