Donald Trump plans to ask Congress for up to $8.6 billion in additional funding for his wall along the US/Mexico border in his upcoming budget proposal for fiscal 2020.
The request, which will come as part of Mr. Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal, is certain to reignite a conflict with Democrats that led to a record-long government shutdown this year. Mr. Trump had previously requested $5.7 billion to build a wall but was rebuffed by both Democrats and Republicans, who approved a spending bill that did not include the funding.
That resulted in Mr. Trump declaring a national emergency on the border with Mexico to access billions of dollars that Congress refused to give him to build a wall there.
The new budget request is intended to allow for the completion of 700 miles of barrier, which is the total that Mr. Trump intends to build, mostly new but some refurbished.
Congress wouldn’t give him $5.7 billion, so he’s going to ask for $8.6 billion.
Seems logical.
Anyone remember when Mexico was going to pay for the wall?
SNL’s cold open last night took on the now-infamous R. Kelly interview with CBS’ Gayle King.
Kenan Thompson portrays the singer, and Leslie Jones offers up her take on the cool-as-cucumber CBS This Morning co-host.
I think this is one of the best skits I’ve ever seen Thompson do. Not only does he capture the illogical freneticism of Kelly, but the writing is totally on point.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so just hit play below. Very funny stuff.
Having been born in the 1960s, I have distant-but-fond memories of my parents dancing in our living room on Saturday nights as they got ready to head out on the town.
Social ballroom dancing was beginning to decline, but my parents still loved going to dance halls in our town of Fort Worth, Texas.
Being so young, I never got to see them trip the light fantastic out on a dance floor, but they would set the mood for the evening at home with music on the stereo.
And I remember the romance of it all.
When I grew up and moved to New York City, I discovered gay country/two-stepping nights in Manhattan in the early 1990s.
I hadn’t ever experienced one-on-one social dancing as an adult gay man until those country music-filled nights. The line dances came fairly easy to me, but I was so taken by the partner slow dances.
I never learned how to lead very well, but I could follow (we’ll just leave that there, ok?). And I found it so romantic to move to music while holding another man. I was quite smitten with the concept.
When I moved to Los Angeles to be with my hubby, Michael, I tried to get him to go dancing at Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City, just a few blocks from our first apartment. But he had been teased some years before about his dancing – unfairly so – and he’d become quite bashful about it.
I would teach him the basics in our living room – slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick. He was a quick learner, but he never got up the nerve to get out and bust a move on the dance floor in public.
The full extent of dancing with my hubby were those early days in our apartment living room, although he does spontaneously dip me every now and then. No, that’s not a euphemism.
But I remember the romance of it all.
So, it comes as no surprise the new music video from Cameron Hawthorn, “Dancing in the Living Room,” led me to some oh-so-familiar (and very romantical) territory.
Both the song and video are disarmingly charming.
The video features couples ranging from gay, straight, older, and younger, finding a quiet intimate moment together.
And I remember the romance of it all.
Cameron’s vocals are confident and heartfel; the production is top-notch and authentic.
And speaking of authentic – this release is Cameron’s coming out letter to his fans.
The final scene of the video finds the country crooner himself coming home to his boyfriend, and finding a moment to connect as they sway together in time to the music.
Inspired by the message that ‘love is love,’ Cameron says, “For me and for so many others, that message is beyond important. It’s a simple message, but it needs to be told right now in the world we live in”.
Cameron says, after years of avoiding writing about romantic love in his music while living a closeted life, “I finally decided I needed to record and release this as a part of my journey.”
And like music that’s universally compelling, it seems like he’s experienced some of the same thing I did with my guy.
“I remember always thinking how special it was to dance freely with my boyfriend in the living room of our apartment – being gay, it’s not as easy to dance as a couple in public together as it is for a straight couple,” he shares. “I wanted to express how special that moment is for a couple, when it’s just the two of you in the privacy of your own four walls.”
While I share a lot of quality music from out musicians here on The Randy Report, it’s not often I get tipped to gay country artists – although I have featured the very talented Patrick Masse and Drake Jensen in recent years here.
With their successes, along with Nashville’s Chely Wright and Ty Herndon, here’s hoping the door is opened that much wider for the next generation of worthy out country artists like Cameron Hawthorn.
I like. And I think you will, too. Hit the play button below and enjoy.
Students at a Mississippi high school were given required attendance paperwork in order to attend prom that included language that clearly banned same-sex dates.
Students at Tremont Attendance Center in Mississippi were told to sign paperwork that included language stating that guests attending the Apr. 26th prom must be “of the opposite sex.” The rule was emphasized twice — in capitalized, bold letters — on the two-page form, and under a safety waiver that required student and parent signatures.
High school prom organizers that excluded same-sex couples from the upcoming dance deny the rule was homophobic.
“Guests must be 10th-grade–21 years old and of the opposite sex,” read the rule.
The form was shared on Facebook by Jack McCrory, a Tremont graduate whose niece is a current student. “From the open-minded and tolerant folks of the Tremont prom committee,” he wrote on Monday.
Trae Wiygul, the superintendent of Itawamba County Schools, did not respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment.
He told WTVA, “The Itawamba County School District does not sponsor or endorse proms. If prom is being held, it is a private affair hosted by parents. Since this matter allegedly concerns a parent, who is also a teacher, any activity that person may have done during school hours concerning a prom was outside the scope of employment and is being investigated.”
Wiygul said a teacher who passed out the forms is being investigated.
According to WTVA, a parent involved with prom said the rule was an attempt at “crowd control,” so students could not purchase tickets for unofficial dates. “That’s not relevant to a person’s sex,” McCrory tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
A Facebook post, allegedly written by a Tremont student and sent to Yahoo Lifestyle, says the paperwork was passed out by “multiple teachers” prefacing an intercom announcement from the principal, which warned that students could not bring same-sex dates.
Joshua Tom, the legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi, tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “Preventing same-sex couples from attending prom is discriminatory and unconstitutional. We’d advise that the county doesn’t repeat its discriminating actions from nine years ago or face legal jeopardy.”
Folks have been a bit gobsmacked over the news that Mr. Rogers – yes, the ‘Mr. Rogers’ – considered himself bisexual.
An excerpt from The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King, references a 1974 interview Rogers did with the New York Times and also a conversation with Rogers’ friend, Dr. William Hirsch.
In the Times interview, Rogers admitted he wasn’t a he-man in the model of ‘John Wayne.’
And in a chat with Hirsch, Rogers apparently admitted he had “found women to be attractive, and I have found men attractive.”
Before you get too concerned as to whether Fred was some two-timing cad on the down low – never fear, our hero’s reputation is completely intact. According to King, Rogers was “absolutely faithful to his marriage vows.”
In addition to his long-running, popular children’s television show on PBS, Rogers was a musician, a puppeteer and a Presbyterian minister.
Over the course of his career, he was awarded 40 honorary degrees, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Peabody Award.
He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
Rogers died a few years later of stomach cancer in 2003.
Jussie Smollett (mug shot via Chicago Police Dept)
In a stunning turn of events, Empire star Jussie Smollett has been indicted on 16 felony counts by a grand jury in Chicago.
Smollett was charged last month with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report on January 29.
Smollett had claimed he was attacked during a late-night food run by two masked men. The 36-year-old actor alleged the men beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured an unidentified liquid on his head – all while yelling homophobic and racist slurs.
Police later tracked down the two men using surveillance footage, who say Smollett paid them to stage the attack.
One related to Smollett’s initial statement to the police about the alleged hate crime. The second set of charges are in regard to his followup interview with the police later that same day.
ABC7 reports, “The new set of charges each carry a possible sentence of probation to four years.”
During a press conference last month, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that the actor initially faked a homophobic, racist letter to himself.
But when the actor didn’t get the response he desired, Johnson said Smollett paid the two brothers $3,500 to stage the attack because he was “dissatisfied with his salary.”
Grammy and Tony Award winner Ben Platt releases his fourth music video, “Temporary Love,” from his upcoming solo debut album, Sing To Me Instead.
The first two singles, “Bad Habit” and “Ease My Mind,” featured out actor Charlie Carver as his love interest in days gone by. With the release of the second track, Platt publicly came out as gay via People Magazine.
The third video, “Grow As We Go,” featured dancers Rudy Abreu and Effie Tutko to spectacular effect as, again, Platt seemed to be looking back at lost loves.
“Temporary Love” finds the 25-year-old reassuring a partner that their relationship is NOT temporary, but here to last.
This is not a temporary love Now your heart is in my hands, I won’t give it up This is not a temporary love
The music video, directed by frequent collaborator Nick Lieberman, follows the soulful singer wandering through an old, abandoned house while flashes of couples of all types – gay, lesbian, straight, older, younger – flash across the screen.
As in “Ease My Mind,” Platt pairs his powerful voice with a gospel-tinged chorus, providing a comfortable sweet spot for his vulnerable, evocative vocals.
Platt is scheduled to perform the new single March 14 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
CNN is reporting on the ‘abrupt’ departure of White House communications director Bill Shine.
This comes just days after The New Yorker detailed the more-than-close relationship between Fox News and Donald Trump.
Shine worked as a Fox News executive until he was pushed out for his handling of numerous sexual harassment lawsuits at the network.
Shortly after Shine’s resignation was made public Friday, the Trump campaign announced Shine will be joining Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign as a “senior adviser.”
The New York Times‘ Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker write that sources say the campaign assignment may be an effort to help Shine save face.
Shine was the 6th communications director (so far) in the Trump administration.
In related news, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson also tendered her resignation to take a position in academia. According to reports, Trump had been considering firing Wilson for months due to what he considered slow progress on his proposed ‘Space Force.’
JUST IN: White House communications director Bill Shine resigns to join the Trump campaign. The former Fox News executive joined the White House in July 2018. https://t.co/v7QzllAAUrpic.twitter.com/ay65KGvLZA
– New jobs report is a disaster – White House Communications Director Bill Shine resigns – Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson resigns – The rats are fleeing the sinking ship – Trump is going to prison – It’s still only 1pm
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control indicates an almost 500% increase in the use of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) among gay and bisexual men in 2017.
The data, presented at the 2019 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle on Thursday, found 35% of gay/bisexual men at risk for HIV had begun using PrEP, up from only 6% in 2014.
According to NBC News, the study was based on 8,000+ interviews across 20 cities in the U.S.
The numbers also revealed the varying adoption rates among different ethnic groups.
Among gay/bisexual men at high risk of HIV, 40% of white men were found to use PrEP, while only 30% of Hispanic men and just 26% of African-American men admitted to taking the drug.
PrEP, also known by its drug name Truvada, has been found to be more than 90% effective in blocking transmission of the HIV virus during sex.
The new report shows high levels of awareness of PrEP among gay/bi men. Ninety-five percent of white men indicated they knew about the drug, as well as 87% of Latinos and 86% of African-Americans.
But in light of the government’s newly-announced “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America,” which has a goal of reducing HIV infections by 90% by the year 2030, the CDC feels PrEP use is still “underutilized.”
One of the obstacles for people accessing PrEP is the high cost of the drug – around $2,000 a month for those without health insurance. Additionally, different insurance companies have wide-ranging policies regarding approving the use of PrEP.
Plus, the new report shows only 10% adoption rates across the country when you factor in heterosexuals and injection drug-use populations at risk of HIV.
With those costs in mind, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced the PrEP Assistance Program Act Friday morning.
The new legislation aims to prevent HIV and AIDS by increasing access to pre-exposure prophylaxis medication for individuals at risk of contracting HIV.
The PrEP Assistance Program Act would create a grant program through the federal Department of Health and Human Services to help cover the costs of PrEP medication, laboratory fees, outreach to inform the public about PrEP, and more.
As political pundits were scratching their heads over the extremely light prison sentence (47 months vs. 19-24 years per guidelines) given to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort yesterday, Donald Trump clearly began to feel vindicated yet again.
This morning the Donald tweeted,”Both the Judge and the lawyer in the Paul Manafort case stated loudly and for the world to hear that there was NO COLLUSION with Russia. But the Witch Hunt Hoax continues as you now add these statements to House & Senate Intelligence & Senator Burr. So bad for our Country!”
Both the Judge and the lawyer in the Paul Manafort case stated loudly and for the world to hear that there was NO COLLUSION with Russia. But the Witch Hunt Hoax continues as you now add these statements to House & Senate Intelligence & Senator Burr. So bad for our Country!
In reality, the judge in the case merely stated that the crimes Manafort was found guilty of did not involve ‘collusion’ with Russia. Judge TS Ellis did not declare there was no collusion.
Meanwhile, back in the real world . . .
1. The issue of collusion/conspiracy with Russia was NOT brought before that particular court;
2. So any evidence of that issue was not allowed; so
3. There could be no ruling on the facts of that issue.
We know your NO COLLUSION tweet is forthcoming, but we don’t care that Paul Manafort wasn’t convicted of that. We care that YOU have surrounded yourself with career criminals like him, and have compromised our security as Americans.
