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Vice President-elect Mike Pence Gets More Than A History Lesson At HAMILTON On Broadway

Vice President-elect Mike Pence

Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended Hamilton: An American Musical on Broadway tonight, and got more than a history lesson.

In fact, you might say the cast of the hit musical “did not throw away” their shot.

As he entered the theater he was met by boos from the audience:

Throughout the performance, many of the show’s famous lines were directed to Pence:

As the cast gathered on stage for their curtain call, Brandon Dixon addressed Pence directly, to the cheers of the audience.

“You know, we have a guest in the audience, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence I see you walking out but I hope that you will hear us a few more moments. There’s nothing to boo here folks. There’s nothing to boo here. We’re all here sharing a story of love. And I encourage you all to pull out your phones, and tweet and spread our message far and wide.”

“Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical.”

“We sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and our inalienable rights, sir.”

“But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us,” Dixon said. “This is one American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and origins.”

From The Hollywood Reporter:

“The cast, the creators, we all felt that we must express our feelings to vice president-elect Pence. This is not a normal time, this is not a normal election. This has not been a normal result. And in a democracy, one must let his and her voice be heard, and we were not going to the show tonight without expressing how we feel,” said (producer Jeffrey) Seller. “Everybody should be able to see this show, regardless of their politics, but it does just so happen that the politics of this administration have been so negative toward minorities, people of color, gay people that we felt the need to speak up. As a cast comprised of minorities, women, gay people, it was necessary. We had to speak. We had to express how we feel.”

Pence is known for his anti-gay legislation, which was criticized by several fans and theatergoers as they learned he was attending the show. Both O’Malley, who plays King George, and Javier Munoz, who now plays Hamilton, are openly gay and involved in LGBT advocacy. As governor of Indiana, Pence opposed gay marriage, signing into law a bill that made it legal for business owners to refuse service to LGBT customers, citing religious freedom. He is also known for supporting “conversion therapy.”

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New Music: Britney Spears – “Slumber Party” feat. Tinashe

Britney Spears and Tinashe drop the music video for their new tune, “Slumber Party,” featuring the woofilicious fitness model, Sam Asghari.

While Asghari stays in the controlled lane, Spears and Tinashe are completely up for dress-up fun.

The video swirls with light, color, fun and sapphic moves by the leading ladies.

And what more do you want on a Friday?

Just in case you didn’t get enough of Asghari – from his Instagram account:

A photo posted by Sam Asghari (@samasghari) on Sep 22, 2015 at 7:30pm PDT

A photo posted by Sam Asghari (@samasghari) on Nov 3, 2016 at 10:55am PDT

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Sen. Jeff Sessions Tapped For Attorney General In Trump Administration

Early Trump supporter, Sen. Jeff Sessions, has been tapped by Donald Trump to act as U.S. Attorney General.

Sessions currently serves as Chairman of the Judiciary committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees.

In 1986, Sessions was considered for a federal judgeship, but was rejected for racially insensitive remarks, including calling the NAACP and the ACLU “un-American.”

A witness also testified Sessions said the Ku Klux Klan was okay “until I found out they smoked pot,” a comment Sessions insisted was a joke.

As senator, Sessions worked to oppose the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, and voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. So, a friend of the LGBT community he is not.

Civil rights groups are not pleased with the AG nomination.

From People For The American Way:

The last time Senator Sessions sought Senate confirmation was 1986 when he was nominated to be a federal judge. Despite the fact that Republicans controlled the chamber at the time, he was rejected because of a long history of racially insensitive remarks and a disastrous record on civil rights.

In the last 30 years, Sessions has done nothing that demonstrates that the Senate’s judgement was incorrect or that he’s learned from his mistakes. Instead, he’s spent years making a name for himself as one of the Senate’s most extreme anti-immigrant voices, even attacking the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

As a senator he’s voted in favor of torture programs under the Bush administration and opposed hate crime protections for LGBT people. If anyone still thinks that Donald Trump might govern with more responsibility or moderation than he campaigned, this nomination is a wakeup call. The Senate should reject this nomination.

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Trump To Settle Trump University Lawsuits For $25 Million Without Admitting Wrongdoing

President-elect Donald Trump will settle two class action lawsuits for fraud involving his now defunct Trump University. according to the New York Daily News.

The settlement was reached between Trump’s lawyers, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the law firm that brought a class action lawsuit regarding Trump University in California.

The agreement comes just days before the California case was set to begin and as Trump readies to take office in January.

The New York Daily News reports that Trump will pay a $20-25 million settlement but admit no wrongdoing in either case.

Schneiderman in 2013 brought a fraud lawsuit against Trump University claiming that the school was nothing but a scam designed to make money for Trump by falsely promising wannabe real estate developers they would learn the tricks of the trade from Trump and his hand-picked teachers.

Instead, those who enrolled were pressured to take more expensive programs from people not selected by Trump. The closest they got to Trump himself was when they were able to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of him, Schneiderman alleged.

Schneiderman initially sought $40 million from Trump, saying he swindled more than 5,000 students through the school. The final $20 million to $25 million settlement will cover students from both the New York and California cases, though there had been some overlap, the source said.

You’ll recall that Trump infamously accused the judge in the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, incapable of being impartial because he was “Mexican.” Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and is of Mexican descent.

Back in June Trump said, “we’re building a wall. He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico.” He added, “he is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can’t even believe. This case should have ended years ago.”

UPDATE: Of course, President-elect Trump just HAD to weigh in on Twitter…

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UK News Host Obliterates Alt-Right Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos

Professional provocateur and openly gay face of the ‘alt-right,’ Milo Yiannopoulos, had his butt handed to him by Channel 4 News’s Cathy Newman where he claimed the wage gap and university rape culture is “not real”.

Yiannopoulos, banned for life from Twitter for his inflammatory discourse, was confronted by Newman for his inflammatory discourse over, and in particular his contrary definition of feminism.

Yiannopoulos attempted to dismiss Newman’s criticism by saying his online engagement was meant as “humor.”

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House Republicans Celebrate Diversity With Vice President-elect Mike Pence

Look at all that diversity on display as incoming Vice President Mike Pence takes a celebratory selfie with U.S. House Republicans.

No, no – wait. There’s a black man in the upper left hand corner, see?

There you go. A virtual melting pot. What a rich tapestry they all are.

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A Lesson On How To Defend Yourself From A Hate Crime

My friend Patrick Boyd’s Facebook post has gone viral after he successfully stood up for himself against a bully in front of his own NYC apartment building.

What did I learn today? Something I’ve actually known for awhile but will share since it was necessary to put it in to action today.

The lesson? Mace. Mace is a brilliant self-defense tool as it doesn’t even have to be utilized for it to be effective and yield the desired results. The very idea of mace sprayed in one’s face is its own psychological weapon.

Case in point, today. Right outside of my building a man in his late 20’s called me a “faggot” out of the blue. After attempting to ignore him and enter my building he shouted “I’m gonna kick your ass” and other expletives as he walked across the street.

That was my “oh, hell no” moment. I parked my scooter, turned around, reached in my coat pocket, and challenged him by saying, “If you’re going to do something, do it. Whatever you think you’re going to do, bring it.” The angry man begins to walk across the street, accepting my proposition.

As he gets close to me I raise my bottle of magic juice and point it in the direction of his face. He stops dead in his tracks. I say, “oh…something the matter? I though I was about to get my ass kicked?” A small crowed has now gathered. “You gonna to spray me,” he shouted. I respond, “Yes, I’m gonna burn your eyeballs right out of your F’ing head.” A moment of silence follows. I continue, “still waiting for that ass kicking.”

I end the confrontation by saying, “oh, so since you see I can DEFEND myself, no ass kicking. Ahhh…not so tough now are ya?” Light applause from the crowd as he walks away mumbling and grunting to save face.

No violence, no guns, no punches thrown, and no eyeballs burned out of someone’s head. Just an @sshole finding out he’s not as tough as he thinks he is. All thanks to a little can of mace that fits in your pocket that I didn’t even have to use. (And yes, it’s legal)

Stick up for yourself brothers and sisters. Trump has unleashed a Pandora’s box of unbridled hate, racism, homophobia, sexism, and xenophobia. I for one am going to fight. And now is REALLY not a good time to f#ck with me.

I should mention that along with being way talented, Patrick is also built as solid as a wall.

You’d be an idiot to threaten him.

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Fake News Writer: “I Think Trump Is In The White House Because Of Me”

Screen capture of Corey Lewandowski tweeting fake news story by Paul Horner

Following Donald Trump’s win, fake news on Facebook and other social media has become a hot topic.

Many news outlets have done research and concluded that fake clickbait headlines grabbed users more often than real headlines, after analyzing the last three months of campaign coverage.

The Washington Post interviewed the man behind many viral fake news stories, 38-year-old Paul Horner.

Some excerpts from Horner about how and why his stories became viral sensations:

“Honestly, people are definitely dumber. They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore — I mean, that’s how Trump got elected. He just said whatever he wanted, and people believed everything, and when the things he said turned out not to be true, people didn’t care because they’d already accepted it. It’s real scary. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist.

“Just ’cause his supporters were under the belief that people were getting paid to protest at their rallies, and that’s just insane. I’ve gone to Trump protests — trust me, no one needs to get paid to protest Trump. I just wanted to make fun of that insane belief, but it took off. They actually believed it.

“I thought they’d fact-check it, and it’d make them look worse. I mean that’s how this always works: Someone posts something I write, then they find out it’s false, then they look like idiots. But Trump supporters — they just keep running with it! They never fact-check anything! Now he’s in the White House. Looking back, instead of hurting the campaign, I think I helped it. And that feels [bad].

“I didn’t think it was possible for him to get elected president. I thought I was messing with the campaign, maybe I wasn’t messing them up as much as I wanted — but I never thought he’d actually get elected. I didn’t even think about it. In hindsight, everyone should’ve seen this coming — everyone assumed Hillary [Clinton] would just get in. But she didn’t, and Trump is president.”

Horner also told WaPo that he’s learned that it doesn’t pay to satirize Democrats. “No joke – in doing this for six years, the people who clicked ads the most, like it’s the cure for cancer, is right-wing Republicans. They don’t fact check.”

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Hillary Clinton’s First Public Appearance Since Conceding Election

Hillary Clinton made her first public appearance since her concession speech last week. She spoke at the Children’s Defense Fund where she began her career as an intern 45 years ago.

From her speech last night:

“I will admit coming here tonight wasn’t the easiest thing for me. There have been a few times this past week when all I’ve wanted to do was just to curl up with a good book or our dogs and never leave the house ever again.”

[snip]

“I know that over the past week a lot of people have asked themselves whether America is the country we thought it was. The divisions laid bare by this election run deep. But, please, listen to me when I say this: America is worth it. Our children are worth it. Believe in our country and fight for our values and never, ever give up….The words of Dr King, often repeated by President Obama: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.’ I know sometimes it can feel awfully long – believe me, I know. But I also know it does bend.”

[snip]

“We have work to do, and for the sake of our children and our families and our country, I ask you to stay engaged, stay engaged on every level. We need you. America needs you, your energy, your ambition, your talent. That is how we get through this.”