LGBTQ news and entertainment
Ok, so I was pretty much knocked out by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s Democratic National Convention speech last night.
My thinking was “No way anyone will top that.” And with First Lady Michelle Obama coming up next, even though I really like her, she’s not previously been known for her soaring oratory.
And then I was proven wrong.
This was the speech of the night. Raising her voice with passion and clarity without being shrill, she evoked the responsibilities inherent in leading the country.
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| Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump |
Upon the announcement of Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia joining Hillary Clinton on the Democratic ticket for the White House, Donald Trump tried to paint Kaine as somehow “corrupt” for taking more gifts during his time as an elected official in Virginia than former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
McDonnell was convicted for taking gifts that he did not disclose.
From the Pulitzer Prize winning website, Politifact:
“Bob McDonnell took a fraction of what Kaine took,” said Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. “And I think, to me, it’s a big problem. Now, how do you take all these gifts? Hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
We wondered whether McDonnell’s gift-taking was, in fact, “a fraction” of Kaine’s. Trump’s campaign did not respond to our request for proof. So we set out on our own, comparing gifts Kaine received as lieutenant governor and governor from 2002 to 2010 to those McDonnell accepted as attorney general from 2006 to 2009 and as governor from 2010 to 2014.
During those years, Virginia didn’t limit gifts to its politicians; the only requirement was that officeholders disclose what they accepted.
We researched the online files of the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit organization that keeps records of campaign contributions and financial disclosure statements filed by state politicians.
[snip]
Kaine accepted $162,083 in gifts as lieutenant governor and governor, all of which was disclosed as required by state law.
McDonnell disclosed accepting $275,707 in gifts as attorney general and governor. And there was another $177,000 that he didn’t disclose. That comes to a total of $452,707 in gifts – almost three times Kaine’s total.
Trump has got this one dead wrong. We rate his statement Pants on Fire.
Bernie Sanders has texted his supporters asking them to not protest from the floor of the Democratic National Committee:
“I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. It’s of utmost importance that you explain this to your delegations.”
Sanders asks followers to take it easy on the floor protests…#DNCinPHL https://t.co/3ZdYjcaxOW— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) July 25, 2016
DNC offers apology to Bernie Sanders and his supporters for leaked emails #DemsInPhilly (via @fitzpatrick_m) pic.twitter.com/yRzyjFeOwZ— Steven D’Souza (@cbcsteve) July 25, 2016
For only the second time, The Advocate has endorsed a presidential candidate, and unsurprisingly, the noted LGBT news outlet voices strong support for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
From The Advocate:
Clinton is a calm, deliberative leader with decades of public service experience and an impressive command of policy, detail, and the concerns of overlapping minority communities. Whereas Trump alienates women, Muslims, immigrants, and LGBT people, Clinton’s record as a U.S. senator is marked by bipartisanship, and her campaign is marked by inclusivity.
To imagine that the election result is a foregone conclusion — that Clinton will handily and easily defeat Trump in November without serious effort on the part of an engaged electorate — is a mistake. The U.K.’s Brexit vote is an example of left-leaning activists and voters wrongly assuming that voters will exercise “common sense.”
There is no foregone conclusion. There is no obvious outcome. But there is only one capable candidate in this election, and only one candidate who is a champion of LGBT causes. That clear and necessary choice is Hillary Clinton.
Addressing a crowd today in Philadelphia ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Bernie Sanders was booed by his own supporters when he urged them to support the Clinton/Kaine ticket.
Watch below as Frankenstein’s monster grows out of control.
Thank god.
From USA Today:
Outgoing party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has told a Florida newspaper she will no longer open the Democratic National Convention on Monday.
“I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention,” the Florida congresswoman told south Florida’s Sun Sentinel.
On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz announced she would resign as Democratic National Committee chairwoman following the convention but indicated she still planned to open and close the Philadelphia gathering.
However, with the controversy over leaked party emails that showed Democratic staffers favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the primary campaign still simmering, Wasserman Schultz faced the prospect of a hostile reception from delegates on the floor Monday.
Congresswoman Marcia Fudge will handle the responsibilities of the Chair throughout the four day convention.
I hope the Bernie Sanders supporters, now that they have Schultz’s scalp, will join the rest of the Democratic Party and support the candidate of the party.
ICYMI: My report when @DWStweets announced she would not appear on stage at @Demconvention https://t.co/r6pliuhaaQ— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) July 25, 2016
In their own words.
Politico reports that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump got a solid bounce out of his convention:
Donald Trump got a bounce from the Republican National Convention, jumping out in front of Hillary Clinton in a new CNN/ORC International poll released Monday, conducted in the days following the party gathering.
Trump leads Clinton 48 percent to 45 percent in a two-way matchup, compared with the presumptive Democratic nominee’s seven-point advantage (49 percent to 42 percent) in the CNN/ORC poll conducted the previous week.
In a four-way matchup with Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Trump’s advantage actually increases to 5 points—44 percent to 39 percent, while Johnson earned 9 percent and Stein 3 percent.
The previous four-way survey found Clinton with a five-point lead over Trump, 42 percent to 37 percent, while Johnson had 13 percent and Stein 5 percent.
