Category: Uncategorized

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Trump Goes Whiny-Baby When Not Congratulated On GOP Nomination

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump whines that CNN’s Chris Cuomo didn’t begin this morning’s interview with a “congratulations” on becoming the GOP nominee, even though Cuomo had already congratulated Trump the last time they spoke.

Lord, the ego.

From Mediaite:

Cuomo started off by asking Trump about a line of rhetoric that has emerged from the campaign trail — “you are attacking Hillary Clinton for the sexual past and indiscretions of her husband,” he noted — a tactic that may give voters pause. “What is your thinking on this line of attack?” Cuomo furthered.

Did Trump answer the question? Not even close. “Well this is a nice way to start off the interview,” the presumptive nominee said with all the sensitivity of a kid in a candy store who was denied his Sour Patch Kids. “First of all, you should congratulate me for having won the race. I thought, you know, at least there would be a small congratulations but I’m not surprised with CNN because that’s the way they treat Trump.”

“You know, they call it the ‘Clinton Network,’ and I believe that. So, uh, let’s start off right there,” Trump continued to say during his phone-in hit. “I said congratulations the last time we spoke!” clarified Cuomo.

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North Carolina Chooses Legal Fight With Federal Government Over Anti-Trans “Bathroom Law”

Faced with repealing the recently passed anti-transgender HB2 or face legal wrangling with the federal government, North Carolina has chosen the latter.

The Associated Press reports:

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is going to court in a fight for a state law that limits protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

McCrory is leading a lawsuit filed Monday seeking to keep in place the law the U.S. Justice Department said last week violated the civil rights of transgender people.

The Justice Department had set a deadline of Monday for McCrory to report whether he would refuse to enforce the last that took effect in March.

The lawsuit filed by North Carolina asserts that “Transgender status is not a protected class under Title VII,” and therefore not covered by Title VII. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has already issued guidance to the contrary.

According to a new CNN/ORC Poll, 57% of Americans oppose anti-trans “bathroom laws” like HB2 in North Carolina, and three-quarters favor laws guaranteeing equal protection for transgender individuals.

UPDATE – U.S. Attorney General will hold a 3:30PM press conference today to announce law enforcement action against North Carolina over its anti-LGBT HB 2 law.

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Bernie Sanders Cancels Meeting With HIV Activists With No Explanation Or Reschedule

Sen. Bernie Sanders

Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade is reporting that Sen. Bernie Sanders cancelled a scheduled meeting with HIV activists that was promised by his campaign just days before the New York Democratic primary.

The 30-minute meeting between Sanders and HIV advocates was set for May 3 in Indianapolis.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton had also agreed to meet the activists, who say they’re are still on track to meet with her Thursday for one hour in New York City.

Hilary McQuie, director of U.S. policy and grassroots mobilization for the HIV/AIDS group Health GAP, told the Blade the Sanders campaign had cancelled the meeting without explanation.

“He did cancel — no reason given and they have not rescheduled,” McQuie said. “We feel a bit burned by the bern, and hope they will answer our emails now.”

Peter Staley, a New York-based gay rights and HIV advocate, told the Blade HIV advocates before the unexpected cancellation were in daily contact with the Sanders campaign.

“They sent a ‘need to reschedule’ email last Sunday (for our Tuesday meeting), and then bizarrely stopped communications completely after that,” Staley said. “We’ve been emailing and calling every day since then, including warning them days ago about our intent to go public.”

According to a statement announcing the cancellation from the Brooklyn-based HIV and homeless advocacy group Housing Works, attendees were informed on April 30 the Sanders meeting was cancelled, which was two days after many of them purchased expensive, last-minute plane ticket to attend the event.

Although the Sanders campaign promised to “reschedule” as soon as possible, it has yet to propose a new date, time or city, the statement says.

The Sanders campaign didn’t respond to a request to comment late Sunday to confirm the meeting with HIV advocates was cancelled or to explain why the event would be nixed.

Hmm. You could almost get the sense that the Sanders campaign “played” the activists to appear more concerned about HIV than Sanders really is to get the support of the LGBT community which is strong in New York state.

I don’t know if that’s true, but seems like one of those things that make you go “hmmm….”

Watch this report from MSNBC:

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Mother’s Day

Me with Carlye Hughes (L) and mother Jackie Hughes (R)
I’ve called Jackie “mother” for over 30 years.  I’m the lucky one.

Regular readers of The Randy Report know there are a few posts that I share annually for special occasions.

This is one of them.

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Happy Mother’s Day wishes to all those fabulous, wonderful mothers who teach and nurture us all.

When I was young, people felt sad for me because my mother passed away at a young age.  But the universe had another plan for me. 

Maybe better…? 

Because so many women were sent my way to teach, support and love on me to bring me to here.  I think wisdom greater than mine knew it would all be more than ok.

This Mother’s Day is my first without Jackie Hughes, who I called “Mother” for over 30 years. She passed last summer and nothing will ever be the same. But what she gave me and shaped in me lives on.

I loved the smile in Mother’s voice. When she said my name it was musical and lilting. “Rannn-dy.” She made me feel like I belonged. She was the center of the Hughes family. And we all knew it.

Memory:  Mother was an expert shopper. EXPERT. She knew how to befriend all the ladies at Neiman Marcus so they would hide items she wanted until they went on serious sale. Double markdowns. Triple markdowns. Then she’d buy. And hide the dresses in the back of the closet for months.

When she’d finally wear them, Coach (Father Hughes was the winningest high school basketball coach in the history of the U.S. – once a coach, always a coach) might compliment her, asking if that was new. She’d reply – in perfect ‘Texan’ – “This? I’ve had it for months. But, thank you.” Always followed by a warm secret smile.

I never shared Mother’s passing last summer here on The Randy Report. I kept thinking I would, but nothing worthy came to mind.

Maybe, I’m still processing the loss. I don’t know.

Mothers give a lot of themselves. And give up a lot. Mother Hughes certainly gave me more than she ever knew.

So thank you to all the mothers out there – the women who make up more of us than we’ll ever understand.

“But there’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

My birth mother, Joyce Ann Slovacek, back in 1958. 
Yeah, you can see it, right…?
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Sarah Palin: Paul Ryan’s Political Career “Is Over” For Not Supporting Donald Trump

Sarah Palin, the former half-term governor of Alaska, tells CNN’s Jake Tapper that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s “political career is over, but for a miracle, because he has so disrespected the will of the people.”

This is in reference to the news this past week that Ryan told the press he isn’t prepared “yet” to get behind Donald Trump as the 2016 Republican presidential nominee.

Palin posits that Ryan may be trying to torpedo Trump in this year’s election cycle to clear the way for himself come 2020.

#WordSalad #WordSalad #WordSalad

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North Carolina Governor: It’s Unrealistic For Us To Repeal In Three Days What We Did In One

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, appearing on Fox News Sunday, told host Chris Wallace that he will comply with the Justice Department’s Monday deadline to either scrap its transgender bathroom law or face legal action and risk losing federal funds.

McCrory made specific mention of the three working days that the state was given to repeal the anti-trans law.

“I don’t think that three working days is enough time for such a pretty big threat,” he told Fox News. “It’s the federal government being a bully, making law.”

Interestingly, the legislation was passed and signed into law in less than one day. I’m not sure how the governor and state lawmakers couldn’t undo in three days what it did in one.

The Human Rights Campaign brings up the same issue in a statement today:

“If HB2 was passed in a day, it can be repealed in a day, too. Pat McCrory’s excuse that he needs more time to comply with the Department of Justice after he rammed through and signed HB2 in the dark of night in a matter of hours doesn’t hold water,” said HRC Communications Director Jay Brown. “Pat McCrory even admitted on national television that his biggest excuse for passing HB2 is a lie. He couldn’t cite a single example of threats to public safety from non-discrimination ordinances like the one in Charlotte. That’s because they do not exist. HB2 is breaking federal civil rights laws and has put billions of dollars in federal funding on the line. It must be fully repealed immediately.”

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News Round-Up: May 7, 2016

Some news items you may have missed:

• If you’re not following adorably sexy Italian couple Italian couple @leotakespix and @mikeletakespix (above), then you should.

• Starbucks and Barnes & Noble join Target in affirming trans inclusive bathroom policies for employees and customers.

• London has elected it’s first Muslim mayor.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders indicates he might be open to being Hillary Clinton’s running mate.

• North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory admits signing anti-LGBT law HB2 might cost him his job.

• Italy is moving closer and closer to legalizing civil unions (remember those?).

• Award-winning out singer Matt Zarley calls in fellow Broadway vet Nathan Lee Graham (The Wild Party, Priscilla Queen of the Desert) for classic Closer Than Ever duet, “It’s Never That Easy/I’ve Been Here Before.”

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Tweetstorms The Donald After “Goofy” Insult

A few days after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren used the words “narcissistic” and “racist” to describe presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on her Twitter account, The Donald slapped back with a few jabs of his own.

Not one to back down, Warren hit back on Twitter, calling Trumps response “lame.”