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Final Poll Before Iowa Caucus: Hillary Clinton +3, Donald Trump +5

The final poll before the Iowa Caucus’s tomorrow shows Hillary Clinton leading her Democratic opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders by a narrow 3 points, while on the Republican side Donald Trump has retaken the lead over Sen. Ted Cruz 28% vs. 23%.

Results from the Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register:

Democrats
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – 45%
Sen. Bernie Sanders – 42%
Gov. Martin O’Malley – 3%

Interesting to note, 83% of Clinton’s supporters say their mind is made up, while 69% of Sander’s supporters say the same. Twenty-nine percent of those leaning Sander’s way say they could change their minds.

Republicans:
Donald Trump – 28%
Sen. Ted Cruz – 23%
Se. Marco Rubio – 15%
Dr. Ben Carson – 10%
Sen. Rand Paul – 5%
Gov. Chris Christie – 3%
Gov. Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Gov. John Kasich and Rick Santorum – 2%

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Viral Video: Coldplay & Beyoncé “Hymn For The Weekend”

The second single from Coldplay’s acclaimed new album, A Head Full Of Dreams.

From Stereogum:

The clip, from director Ben Mor, features Coldplay performing at what appears to be an Indian street fair and wandering into the city while fireworks explode above.

Beyoncé never appears onscreen with the boys; instead, she plays some sort of Bollywood screen queen, which is some pretty decent casting if you ignore the whole cultural-appropriation angle.

Beautifully shot.

Longtime readers of The Randy Report know I’m a huge Coldplay fan.

Over 5 million views in a day. As it should be 🙂

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Anti-Gay Harlem Church Could Become A Haven For Homeless LGBT Youth

A Harlem church, which has become a symbol of hate and homophobia, may present an opportunity to be repurposed as a haven for homeless LGBT youth.

Via Huffington Post:

A New York state judge has ordered the ATLAH World Missionary Church to be sold at a public foreclosure auction, according to court records cited by DNAinfo New York. The church, which has been known to display messages like “Jesus would stone homos” and “Obama has released the homo demons on the black man” on its billboard, has reportedly amassed debts and tax liens totaling more than $1.02 million.

The Harlem church could prove to be a commodity in Manhattan’s cutthroat real estate market. But the Ali Forney Center, an advocacy group dedicated to homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens and young adults, hopes that an online fundraiser will help raise $200,000 to secure the property as housing for its clients.

Carl Siciliano, who is the Ali Forney Center’s founder and executive director, said in a press release that repurposing the church to house homeless LGBT youth would “truly be a triumph of love over hatred.”

“The biggest reason our youths are driven from their homes is because of homophobic and transphobic religious beliefs of their parents,” he said. “Because of this, it has been horrifying for us to have our youths exposed to Manning’s messages inciting hatred and violence against our community. It has meant the world to us that so many Harlem residents have stood up to support our young people, and are now urging us to provide urgently needed care at the site of so much hatred.”

LGBT rights activist Scott Wooledge, who is working with the Ali Forney Center to raise the funds to buy the church and has raised over $200,000 for homeless youth over the past two years, echoed those sentiments.

“We, as a community, have a golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn what was once a center of appalling hate into a home where our youth can be safe, nurtured, supported and thrive into self-sufficient adults,” he told The Huffington Post in an email. “Let’s seize the day, and turn the page on an ugly chapter in Harlem’s history.”

Siciliano has announced that should the Ali Forney Center not able to obtain the building, any funds raised will be utilized to increase its housing and vocational services for homeless LGBT youth in another site.

This is a wonderful chance to do something really beautiful. Please consider donating here.

You can follow the fundraising goals here.

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U.S. State Department: Recently Released Clinton Emails “Not Marked Classified”

The AP is reporting that a group of emails meant to be released today as part of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s personal email server are being withheld because they contain “top secret” information.

It has not been reported whether any of the information was classified at the time of transmission.

State Department spokesman John Kirby clarified Friday, “The documents are being upgraded at the request of the Intelligence Community. These documents were not marked classified at the time they were sent.”

Kirby told the AP that the decision to withhold documents in full as “not unusual.”

The Associated Press learned seven email chains are being withheld in full from the Friday release because they contain information deemed to be “top secret.” The 37 pages include messages recently described by a key intelligence official as concerning so-called “special access programs” — a highly restricted subset of classified material that could point to confidential sources or clandestine programs like drone strikes or government eavesdropping.

Even if Clinton only read, and didn’t write or forward the secret messages, she still would have been required to report classification slippages that she recognized. But without classification markings, that may have been difficult, especially if the information was in the public domain.

Department officials wouldn’t describe the substance of the emails, or say if Clinton sent any herself.

“We firmly oppose the complete blocking of the release of these emails,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brain Fallon said in a statement. “Since first providing her emails to the State Department more than one year ago, Hillary Clinton has urged that they be made available to the public. We feel no differently today.”

Fallon accused the “loudest and leakiest participants” in a process of bureaucratic infighting for withholding the exchanges. The documents, he said, originated in the State Department’s unclassified system long before they ever reached Clinton, and “in at least one case, the emails appear to involve information from a published news article.”

“This appears to be over-classification run amok,” Fallon said.

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New Music: Inas X “Love Is”

Brooklyn born recording artist Inas X drops her new single and music video “Love Is” just in time for the weekend 🙂

Via press release:

The positive, dance/pop hit was inspired by the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, and her desire to capture the historic moment. The video itself showcases people from all different walks of life to illustrate the message that love is for everyone. The joyous feeling is infectious, and by the end you have no choice but to give in to the power of love.

“I knew how important this was for so many people,” says Inas X​. “Love shouldn’t be something that’s restricted. It’s a beautiful thing and there needs to be so much more of it in the world. I just had to capture this movement in a song.”

“It’s such a revolutionary time in history and must be celebrated! Love is different to everyone but I think everyone wants to be loved. Love is painful, and hard but it also is the most beautiful strongest entity in the universe! Love is a celebration. Love is Love!”

Inas X​ prides herself on being a strong, passionate, “boss babe,” and hopes to create of “movement of love” through her music. “Love Is” marks the first single from Inas’ debut EP set for a 2016 release.

Inas has tons of show dates coming up – check her official website at www.InasX.com

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Iowa: New PPP Poll Shows Hillary Clinton Leading Bernie Sanders By 8 Points

As we get closer and closer to Monday’s Iowa caucus’s, folks are looking to polls even more to read tea leaves about who may win on the Democratic side.

A new PPP poll shows former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Bernie Sanders 48% to his 40%. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley comes in with 7%.

PPP makes note that O’Malley’s voter COULD end up helping Sanders as the survey shows 57% of O’Malley’s supporters name Sanders as their second pick.

In Iowa, for a candidate to receive any delegates from a particular precinct, he or she must have the support of at least 15% of participants required by the viability threshold. Supporters of inviable candidates can shift to a candidate deemed viable, form a new group of other inviable candidates in hopes of reaching the threshold, or choose to abstain.

This is where folks “second choice” factors prominently.

Also of note: 88% of Clinton’s supporters say they are “firmly committed” to voting for her versus 74% of Sander’s supporters.

Come Monday we’ll finally have some real turnout and real votes to see where this is all headed.

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New TV Series: Viceland’s “Gaycation” With Ellen Page & Ian Daniel

Via press release:

VICELAND, VICE’s new TV network, launched the first trailer for GAYCATION, a brand new series hosted by Ellen Page and Ian Daniel.

Ellen and her best friend Ian set off on a personal journey to explore LGBTQ cultures around the world. From Japan to Brazil, Jamaica to America, they discover the multiplicity of LGBTQ experiences, meeting amazing people and hearing their deeply moving stories of struggle and triumph. GAYCATION celebrates the state of LGBTQ identities across the globe.

The series premieres on Wednesday, March 2nd at 10PM.

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Music Video: Parlour Trick “Broken Hearts/Bones”

Parlour Trick shares the rise and fall of grocery store escapades in the music video for their new song, “Broken Hearts/Bones.”

Passion, sadness, anger and regret are all on display in this collective expression of humanity, including a real-life gay couple who find passion in the snacks aisle.

Singer Lily Cato explains how the storyline of the video came to be:

“A few months ago I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store,” she wrote back. “A very popular, very sad love song came on the radio. When it reached the bridge I suddenly became aware that everyone around me had started singing to themselves. Softly, but earnestly. There was a middle aged man, some teenagers, woman with a baby, dude with a motorcycle helmet under his arm, all of the women working the checkout counter. Everyone was singing and no one was acknowledging it. I had never seen anything like it.

“After the song ended the line shuffled forward, the next song came on, there were beeps from the scanners, the manager talking over the intercom. No one made eye contact. I might as well have dreamt it. I left feeling crazy; it was so funny, but also so moving. I had borne witness to a weirdly intimate, collective catharsis. All because that song came on the radio.”

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Only Female Senators Show Up For Work After Jonas Blizzard Last Week

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Only Female Senators Showed Up To Work After The SnowstormOnly female Senators showed up to work during the giant blizzard of 2016Posted by NowThis on Wednesday, January 27, 2016