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Trump Dragged For Inciting Violence Against Member Of Congress

Donald Trump

It’s difficult to imagine that a president – a current occupant of the White House – could do something so lacking in dignity.

And yet, he did.

On Friday, Donald Trump incited anger against a member of Congress, Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Trump tweeted out an edited portion of a speech given by the congresswoman at a March event for the Muslim civil rights organization Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The full quote was:

“Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”

But Trump’s video took just a few words from Ilhan – “some people did something” – and repeated it while cutting to video clips of the attack on 9/11. The intention was to make it appear as if Rep. Ilhan was downplaying the attack, which was not the case in any way, shape or form.

Trump was taking Ilhan’s words out of context to incite violence toward her.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a military veteran and White House hopeful for 2020, responded on Twitter.

“After 9/11 we all said we were changed. That we were stronger and more united. That’s what “never forget” was about. Now, a president uses that dark day to incite his base against a member of Congress, as if for sport. As if we learned nothing that day about the workings of hate. That day, some people did this: killed thousands of Americans in order to try to make us smaller, more divided and less free. To weaken us by distancing us from our own values through fear and anger. This is the function of terrorism.”

Buttigieg continued: “I served overseas, at risk to my life, in the struggle against such terrorism. But it can only be fully defeated if we have leaders at home who defuse its capacity to sow hate—hate against Islam or against any number of “others.” The president today made America smaller. It is not enough to condemn him; we must model something better.”

“The threats against the life of @IlhanMN make clear what is at stake if we fail to to do this, and to beat back hate in all all its forms,” he concluded.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also condemned Trump’s actions: “The President is inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman—and an entire group of Americans based on their religion. It’s disgusting. It’s shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it.”

And Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont: “Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She won’t back down to Trump’s racism and hate, and neither will we. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted this: “Members of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack today.@IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress.We must speak out. ‘First they came…'”

And then there was the onslaught on Twitter using the #IStandWithIlhanOmar hashtag. Click here to get some of that.

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News Round-Up: April 12, 2019

Some news items you might have missed: • Even though his iPhone didn’t recognize his newly-32-year-old face this morning, I’m thinking Alex Abramov (above) will find a way to soldier on… • Rugby Australia has declared its intention to terminate Israel Folau’s contract over his anti-LGBTQ social media posts. • Donald Trump’s transgender military ban went into effect today. Nearly 15,000 Americans who signed up to put their lives on the line for the US could be impacted (read that ‘discharged’) by the new policy. • A Trump-supporting Oklahoma woman has been arrested after confessing to a spree of racist vandalism that targeted black, transgender and Jewish residents in two towns. • Two male dancers have joined the New England Patriots cheerleading team. • Check out the latest single from P!nk, “Can We Pretend,” from her upcoming album Hurts 2B Human out April 26. P!nk makes me feel good. I like her music, I like her musical perspective on life. If you’ve never seen her in concert (and I’m not a concert kinda guy) you have to go. It’s a totally feel-good experience. And I love that a lyric in this song is “Can we pretend that we both like the president?”

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‘Transparent’ Reveals The Fate Of Jeffrey Tambor’s Character

Jeffrey Tambor in ‘Transparent’

These days, when an actor screws up, they don’t just get fired.

Their character gets killed off.

Just ask Roseanne Barr, whose racist Twitter rant got her bounced from the reboot of her eponymous sitcom, Roseanne.

The sitcom survived, though, and in the opening of the show’s second season we learned her character had been killed off due to an opioid overdose.

#Dead

The same fate has befallen Jeffrey Tambor’s character of ‘Maura’ on the award-winning Amazon Prime series, Transparent.

Tambor was fired last year at the height of the #MeToo movement last year when allegations of inappropriate behavior by Tambor surfaced.

Now, series creator Jill Solloway has revealed that Maura will be killed off in the series finale scheduled to drop this fall.

Plus, the episode will be a musical extravaganza!

Yes, the remaining characters will be singing their way through their sorrow.

From the Los Angeles Times:

“We were all in mourning in many ways, and we all had to process together,” Soloway told The Times about the decision to kill off the character. “It was important [for the show] to go through all those stages. The show has always been a reflection of who we were and we were mourning our own narrative.”

She added: “People say when they’re making musicals that there are moments when the characters have to sing because they can’t put something into words. I think it’s the same thing with what our show went through, we felt like we needed a different way of looking at the family. And we did it through song.”

Soloway describes the musical send-off as a tribute to all musicals — referring to it as a “Jewish Christ Superstar or anxious ‘Godspell’ or ‘Ordinary People’ on ice” before finally declaring it a “genderqueer Jewish fantasia.” Among the slated musical numbers is a song titled, “Your Boundary Is My Trigger,” which Soloway calls a mother-daughter aria between Sarah and Shelley about the powerful nature of maternal love.

The series shared some photos from the musical finale on its Instagram account.

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When An Ankle Exam Turned Into A ‘Massage’

(image by Marlon Lara on Unsplash)

You know how an ankle exam sometimes turns into a date?

Yeah, me neither.

A Pennsylvania doctor has been charged with indecent assault after an ankle exam went in a whole different direction.

According to local news station WQAD, the male victim told police he texted Dr. William Vollmar on March 14 about treating his injured ankle.

The physician agreed to meet the man at his Quarryville sports clinic in at 7:30 p.m.

After 5-10 minutes of examination, Vollmar asked the man if he wanted to be “worked on.” Assuming the doctor meant massage and chiropractic adjustments, which the doctor had performed on the victim before, he said yes.

Near the end of the massage, during which the patient was naked except for a towel over his mid-section, the doctor asked the man, “Do you trust me?”

The man said he did, and Vollmar then began to touch the victim’s genitals.

Stunned, the man told Vollmar to stop. According to the victim, the doctor then asked, “Do you want me to finish you?”

The victim declined and ended the “massage.”

The victim told police that he never consented to have his genitals touched.

When the police interviewed Vollmar, the doctor explained that the whole episode was a “huge misunderstanding, mostly on my part.”

The doctor told the authorities that, while doing chiropractic manipulation on the man’s hips, he thought the man showed interest in something more, so Vollmar touched the peen.

According to the police complaint, the doctor admitted the victim had not given permission to touch his genitals.

(h/t WQAD)

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Instagram ‘Influencer’ Loses It When Account Gets Deleted “I’m Nothing Without My Following!”

A social media “influencer” named Jessy Taylor posted an emotional, tearful video recently when her Instagram account with 100,000+ followers was accidentally deleted.
Social media ‘influencer’ Jessy Taylor

A social media “influencer” named Jessy Taylor posted an emotional, tearful video recently when her Instagram account with 100,000+ followers was accidentally deleted.

Taylor became so upset she admitted to calling 911 and reporting the deletion.

“I called the police actually and told them about this,” the 21-year-old told pop culture site INSIDER. “They said you can’t compare a murder to this, and I was like, no, that’s exactly what it felt like.”

The former stripper contends that “haters” reported her posts as spam which resulted in the removal of her account.

Apparently, in an attempt to gain more followers, she made racist comments on her account.

“That wasn’t from the bottom of my heart,” she explained to INSIDER. “At the time, I didn’t have that many followers, so I thought if I say this, maybe I can get more followers.”

In the video posted by Taylor (which has garnered over 1.1 million views), she makes it clear life without Insta-celebrity can be devastating for some people.

“I’m nothing without my following. I’M NOTHING WITHOUT MY FOLLOWING!” she shrieks.

She goes on to say that she makes all of her income online because she’s not a nine-to-five kind of girl – “THAT IS NOT ME! I am in LA to notbe like that!”

“I am not ‘work’ material – I will never be ‘work’ material!”

Taylor shared with INSIDER that even though she earned over $500,000 in the past few years, “That money does not last.”

“You go to the Gucci store a few times, you pay a couple of months of rent…I’m not rich like I used to be,” she said.

“Before I had 100,000 followers, before I had everything in my life, I was a f*cking loser!”

That said, she does admit her Instagram following did go to her head.

“I turned into a mean person when I had my account,” she told INSIDER. “If people would try it with me, I’d use it to say, ‘You need to understand who the f*ck you’re talking to.'”

After a week of being banished, Instagram did reactivate her account explaining the deletion was “in error.”

Explaining that those fateful seven days really changed her in “the best way,” Taylor says she will “never be the same” thanks to this “blessing in disguise.”

We’re not sure if this is performance art, parody, an attempt to become the new Chris Crocker, or just plain cray cray, but hit the play button and see for yourself.

p.s. if you click over to the YouTube page that hosts the video, the comments are just about what you’d imagine.  The clip currently has 19,000 ‘thumbs down’ votes and only 1,000 ‘thumbs up.’

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Report: Russian Operatives Targeted Sanders Supporters To Weaken Hillary Clinton

Researchers studying Twitter data from the 2016 election say Russian operatives definitely targeted supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders in an effort to weaken Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders

Researchers studying Twitter data from the 2016 election say Russian operatives definitely targeted supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders in an effort to weaken Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

From The Hill:

A study by Clemson University researchers reported by The Washington Post found that thousands of tweets from Russian-owned accounts masquerading as conservative accounts supporting President Trump began targeting Sanders’s supporters shortly after the primary concluded.

“#BlackMenForBernie Leader Switches to Trump! I will Never Vote for Hillary, Welcome aboard the Trump Train,” read one tweet sent by a Russian account pretending to be a “Southern., Conservative Pro God, Anti Racism” Twitter user from Texas.

“Conscious Bernie Sanders supporters already moving towards the best candidate Trump! #Feel the Bern #Vote Trump 2016,” read another account known as “Red Louisiana News” that was actually operated by Russians.

About 12 percent of Sanders voters said they ended up voting for Trump over Clinton in the general election, according to the Post.

Still, the number of Sanders voters who supported Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — states considered key to Trump’s victory — was higher than Trump’s margin of victory in those states.

“I think there is no question that Sanders was central to their strategy,” Darren Linvill, one of the two Clemson researchers behind the study, told the Post. “He was clearly used as a mechanism to decrease voter turnout for Hillary Clinton.”

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Mayor Pete To Pence: We Don’t Need To Feud About Religion, Just Stop Being Homophobic

Mayor Pete Buttigieg on ELLEN (via screen capture)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg on ELLEN (via screen capture)

During his appearance on ELLEN Friday, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg addressed an accusation by Vice President Mike Pence that he has been attacking Pence’s “Christian faith” as a means to further his presidential aspirations.

“I’m not critical of his faith,” the mayor told Ellen DeGeneres. “I’m critical of bad policies.”

“I don’t have a problem with religion – I’m religious, too,” he added. “I have a problem with religion being used as a justification to harm people, and especially in the LGBTQ community. So many people, even today, feel like they don’t belong. You can get fired in so many parts of this country just for who you are. And that’s got to change.”

Back to Pence, the 37-year-old White House hopeful told Ellen he isn’t “interested in feuding with the Vice President.”

“But, if he wanted to clear this up he could come out today and say he’s changed his mind,” said Buttigieg. “That it shouldn’t be legal to discriminate against anybody in this country for who they are.”

Mayor Pete Buttigieg on ELLEN (via screen capture)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg on ELLEN (via screen capture)

Buttigieg also spoke about the influence of religion on his life and how it guides him.

“When I’m in church, the scripture that I hear is about taking care about the least among us it’s about lifting up those who are most vulnerable,” he explained. “It’s a message that is fundamentally about love. Love and humility. Humbling yourself before God and putting other people before you.”

Noting that many people were disappointed a woman wasn’t elected president in 2016, Ellen asked the mayor why those people should vote for him in the 2020 election.

“You gotta vote for the person you think best speaks to your values and is best able to lead the country, and you may decide that’s me and you may decide that’s somebody else.”

Underscoring the importance for administrations to have gender diversity and gender balance, Mayor Pete was quick to say he’d definitely be open to having a female running mate should he win the Democratic primary.

In related Mayor Pete news, the recent Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll shows he has surged to third place among Democratic voters in New Hampshire.

With former Vice President Joe Biden coming in on top with 23 percent, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders second with 16 percent, Mayor Pete garnered 11 percent support.

The pollster wrote in his report, “The emerging dark horse in this race may be Pete Buttigieg, who has gone from a virtual unknown to vault to 11% support, trailing only Biden and Sanders and ahead of Warren.”

The poll indicated Buttigieg has seen a 33-point increase in name recognition in recent weeks, almost all of it favorable.

And the latest poll out of Iowa from Monmouth University also shows Buttigieg in third place (9% support) behind Biden (27%) and Sanders (16%).

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News Round-Up: April 11, 2019

Me and the Brun

Some news items you might have missed:

• As National Pet Day winds down, here’s to the best dog I ever worked for (and loved more than anyone else on this planet ever never ever never), Bruno the wonder dog! (You’ll notice, clearly, I was the pet and Bruno was the master, right?)

• The cast of the hit FX series, Pose, have been named as Grand Marshals of New York City Pride.

• The latest Monmouth University poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t officially entered the race, as the first choice of roughly a quarter of likely Iowa caucus-goers (27%). He’s followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 16% and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, in third place with 9%.

• In related news – a new poll out of New Hampshire shows Pete Buttigieg in 3rd place there as well. The results put Biden at 23%, Sanders at 16% and Buttigieg at 11%.

• Disney will develop the hit movie, Love, Simon, into a series for Disney+, the mouse house’s streaming platform.

• Michael Avenatti, who became famous as porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, has been indicted on 36 charges of tax dodging, perjury, theft from clients.

• A white South Carolina man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Thursday for attempting to hire the Ku Klux Klan to kill his black neighbor. I kid you not…

• Recording artist Lizzo will releases her new album, “CUZ I LOVE YOU” on April 19th. Check out her recent appearance on NBC’s Today Show singing lead single, “Juice.”

What a charismatic talent, and I love her positive/body positive message. Hit play.

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Ryan Murphy Will Turn Broadway’s THE PROM Into A Netflix Movie Event

Hollywood super-producer/director Ryan Murphy (Pose, American Horror Story, GLEE) has announced he’s bringing another queer story to the small screen. Murphy announced on his Instagram Wednesday that he will turn the new Broadway musical, The Prom, into a Netflix “movie event.”
Ryan Murphy will bring Broadway musical The Prom to Netflix

Hollywood super-producer/director Ryan Murphy (Pose, American Horror Story, GLEE) has announced he’s bringing another queer story to the small screen.

Murphy announced on his Instagram Wednesday that he will turn the new Broadway musical, The Prom, into a Netflix “movie event.”

“THE PROM is one of the most uplifting, heartfelt and special musicals I have ever seen on Broadway,” wrote Murphy. “It’s truly an original that celebrates the underdog and says in a loving spectacular way that LGBTQ rights are human rights.”

Citing a “special connection” to the piece due to the location of the musical, Indiana, which happens to be where Murphy hails from, he told his followers, “I’m thrilled to announce I’m turning it into a MOVIE EVENT for Netflix.”

THE PROM is one of the most uplifting, heartfelt and special musicals I have ever seen on Broadway. It’s truly an original that celebrates the underdog and says in a loving spectacular way that LGBTQ rights are human rights. I feel a special connection to it because it’s set in Indiana, and that’s where I grew up, too. I’m thrilled to announce I’m turning it into a MOVIE EVENT for Netflix, and I’m bringing producers @billdamaschke and @dori.berinstein and the amazing creative team with me — Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw, Tony Award winner Bob Martin, Tony award nominee @sklarbar73 and Tony Award nominee @Chadbeg. See it first at the Longacre Theatre. It has a musical score that will leave you singing for days, a hilarious and moving book and some of the most showstopping direction, choreography and performances I’ve ever seen on Broadway. @theprommusical
A post shared by Ryan Murphy (@mrrpmurphy) on Apr 9, 2019 at 5:32pm PDT

In adapting the material for TV, the 6-time Emmy Award winner shared that the Broadway creative team – including Tony Award winning director/choreographer Casey Nickolaw – will come along for the ride, as well as the stage producers.

The show, which follows the story of a high school student in a small Indiana town who is banned from bringing her girlfriend to the prom, opened at the Longacre Theater on Broadway last fall to rave reviews.

“So full of happiness you think your heart is about to burst!” – Variety

“Comic gold!” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Broadway Comedy Razzle Dazzles Small Town Bigotry” – Deadline

You may recall the splash the show made when the cast performed the number “Build A Prom” on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November.

Upbeat, lively and full of energy, the musical number closes with the two female leading characters kissing.

I’m pretty sure that was the first same-sex kiss to be televised on the long-running parade.

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NY State: Town Clerk Forced To Apologize For Refusing Marriage License To Gay Couple

Town clerk Sherrie Eriksen apologizes for denying gay couple a marriage license
Town clerk Sherrie Eriksen apologizes for denying gay couple a marriage license

On July 30 last summer, Thomas Hurd and Dylan Toften went to the office of their town clerk in Root, New York, to obtain a marriage license.

Instead of a joyful, upbeat episode in their lives, the men were dismayed to be turned down by town clerk Sherrie Eriksen.

She put the couple off saying they couldn’t get a marriage license because they didn’t make an appointment before coming to the office, according to WRAL.

She also told the men that she has a personal objection to same-sex marriage.

That’s despite the fact that New York state legalized marriage equality in 2011, and the U.S. Supreme Court made it the law of the land in 2015.

Toften took to social media at the time to share the incident writing, “Town of Root clerk is a bigot!!! Refused to do our marriage license. She said make an appointment to have her deputy do it… do your job Andrew Cuomo.”

Gov. Cuomo responded to the post by tweeting, “Marriage equality is our law in NY. The denial of a license to a same sex couple is an unconscionable act of discrimination. On behalf of all New Yorkers, I’d like to congratulate Dylan & his future husband on their marriage.”

Several town meetings were held, an investigation was launched, and a lawsuit was threatened by the couple, according to WRGB News.

In the end, an agreement was reached: the town of Root would pay the men $25,000 plus Eriksen would personally deliver a public apology.

And so it came to be on Wednesday afternoon that Eriksen, standing in front of news cameras and town leaders at the weekly town meeting, made her apology.

“In my capacity as town clerk, it is my responsibility to provide marriage licenses to all couples, regardless of sex or sexual orientation, so long as they meet all applicable New York state requirements,” she began. “As such, my office and I will personally will issue marriage licenses to any couple without exception, who is legally entitled to be issued one.”

Her voice wavering a bit, she continued, “On July 30th of last year, there was an unfortunate incident involving Mr Thomas Hurd and Mr Dylan Toften, who came to my office seeking a marriage license.”

“I am sorry for any harm or inconvenience my actions caused the couple, thank you,” she concluded.

Here’s the video via local CBS News anchor Emily DeFeciani:

Hurd and Toften eventually received a marriage license from another town and were married on August 18.

The couple told WRGB that they’re proud they stood up for marriage equality.

“If we had never stood our ground, how many more people would’ve had to go through this?” Toften said.

Dylan Toften and Thomas Hurd (image via Facebook)