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Trump Repeats Lie That “So Many Parents” Of Korean War Vets Asked Him To Bring Their Sons Home

Donald Trump’s lies have become so multitudinous that I’ve not been able to keep up lately.

But I have to address this particular lie, which the Trumpster repeated yet again today.

Donald Trump said a few days ago and then again this morning on Fox News that “so many parents” of Korean War vets asked him on the campaign trail in 2016 to please help bring home the remains of their sons.

To be clear – the Korean War ended in 1953.

My own father served in the Korean War. He died in 2008 at the age of 91.

His father was born in 1892 and died in 1979. He would be 126 years old today.

My father’s mother was born in 1898 and died in 1964. She would be 120 years old.

Now, can you imagine tons of folks in their 120s traipsing to Trump campaign rallies and stopping him to ask to bring home their sons’ remains?

#Liar

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TV: What To Watch This Weekend

What to watch this weekend - "Man In An Orange Shirt" on PBS Masterpiece plus the return of "Queer Eye"
From “Man In An Orange Shirt” on PBS Masterpiece

In cast you were wondering what to watch on TV this weekend:

The ‘Fab 5’ are back! Starting today all 8 episodes of Season 2 of Netflix’s Queer Eye.

This season the ‘make better’ show expands its scope of ‘mentees’ including a transgender man named Skyler and a beloved church mama. Get the tissues cause I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Produced to observe the 50th anniversary of when homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK, Man In An Orange Shirt chronicles two love stories sixty years apart.

In the 1940s, lovers Michael (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Thomas (James McArdle), live under threat of jail if their affair is discovered, leading Michael to marry a woman, Flora (Joanna Vanderham).

Moving to the present, the second half of the two and a half hour movie reveals Flora (Vanessa Redgrave) as grandmother to a young gay man, Adam (Julian Morris), who is in the midst of his own sexual confusion.

TV Guide Magazine: “A powerful Masterpiece movie that bridges generations with its tale of repressed and forbidden affections.”

The Boston Globe: “I was afraid the message of “Man in an Orange Shirt” would be simplistic — being gay was hard then, but it’s easy now, look how far we’ve come, etc. But the film, strewn with symbols that carry from one story to the other, has other things in mind, and they make it distinctly moving.”

You can catch the film on PBS’s Masterpiece this Sunday. The DVD becomes available on June 19.

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Queer Rapper Big Dipper Has Got You “Lookin”

Rapper Big Dipper has got you "Lookin"
Rapper Big Dipper has got you “Lookin”

Queer L.A.-based rapper Big Dipper shares his new video for the single “Lookin,” featuring men of all sizes, colors, and shapes getting wet and wild at the car wash.

Big Dipper spoke my other home, Instinct Magazine, about the video:

“I wanted to take all the stereotypical set ups from stupid college frat movies and flip the over-sexualization of women in bikinis at car washes. I wanted to feature big, thicc, fat guys who like to show off and dance….the type of bodies that get overlooked in typical media representation.”

“I also really wanted to make a dance video that shows big and fat guys really moving and hitting tight choreography. It was important for me to cast a wide range of bodies and types of guys to feature in the visual.”

“LOOKIN celebrates the people who catch your eye…those people out in the world who have that special something that makes you look twice. For me, big confident guys who know how to use their bodies have always piqued my interest, so I wanted to show them off in a video. I try to put that vibe out into the world and I wanted the visual for LOOKIN to reflect that.”

I think this is fab fun. Hit the play button and get down with Big Dipper and crew.

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Rudy Giuliani Predicts Presidential Pardons For Convicted Trump Allies

Rudy Giuliani on Friday claimed the Russia investigation could get “cleaned up” with pardons from President Trump in light Paul Manafort being sent to jail.
Rudy Giuliani

And there it is…

From The New York Daily News:

In one of his most forceful attacks on the special counsel yet, Rudy Giuliani on Friday claimed the Russia investigation could get “cleaned up” with pardons from President Trump in light Paul Manafort being sent to jail.

“When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons,” the former New York mayor told the Daily News.

Giuliani’s stunning remark came hours after a Washington, D.C., judge revoked Manafort’s bail and ordered him to remain behind bars while awaiting his September trial on charges relating to his shady pro-Russian business dealings in Ukraine. The ruling came after Robert Mueller’s investigators alleged Manafort had attempted to tamper with witnesses in the Russia investigation.

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Donald Trump Wants His People To “Sit Up At Attention” When He Speaks

Donald Trump told Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy that he likes how North Koreans "sit up and pay attention" when Kim Jong Un speaks, and he would like his people "to do the same"
Donald Trump on ‘Fox & Friends’

With Fox News morning show “Fox and Friends” airing from the lawn of the White House, Donald Trump strolled out to chat with host Steve Doocy Friday morning

During the interview segment talking about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Trump shared that he he admires how North Koreans “sit up at attention” when their leader speaks and he wants “my people to do that same.”

Left out of that comment is the fact that Kim is a dictator who starves its own people.

“Hey, he is the head of a country and I mean he is the strong head,” Mr. Trump told Fox News’ Steve Doocy on the White House lawn Friday. “Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”

Trump later told a reporter said he was “kidding.”

“I’m kidding, you don’t understand sarcasm,” the president said.

Watch the clip below. There doesn’t seem to be any “humor” in his statement.

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Indiana GOP Reaffirms Commitment To “Man/Woman” Marriage

The Indiana Republican Party reaffirmed its commitment to "traditional" marriage and will continue to oppose marriage equality despite a 2015 Supreme Court ruling

Choosing to remain stuck in the Dark Ages, the Indiana Republican Party voted overwhelmingly to reaffirm its commitment to marriage being “between a man and a woman” despite the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which made marriage equality the law of the land.

According to NWI.com, Gov. Eric Holdcomb had proposed a revised party plank regarding families that expressed support for all adults raising children.

Instead the 1,494 GOP delegates attending the biennial convention in Evansville reaffirmed the opposite-sex marriage plank first adopted in 2014.

Proposed by Porter County Republican Chairman Michael Simpson, the new language would have declared: “We support traditional families with a mother and father, blended families, grandparents, guardians, single parents and all loving adults who successfully raise and nurture children to reach their full potential every day.”

Speaking to delegates from the floor of the convention, Simpson said a broader understanding of family “is the best platform for our party and the best way for us to grow.”

But Morgan County GOP chairman Daniel Elliott, pushing the issue to the forefront of the convention, told attendees that man-woman marriage “is an important part of who we are as Hoosier Republicans.”

“This language … recognizes the reality on the ground that most families are headed by married couples,” Elliot said.

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Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Ordered To Jail

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort ordered to jail
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort ordered to jail for witness tampering

A federal judge has ordered Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair to jail amid new charges he had attempted to tamper with government witnesses for his upcoming trial.

According to CNN’s Marshall Cohen, prosecutors said Manafort used a method called “foldering” to covertly communicate people in an attempt to evade detection.

Manafort created an email account and shared the password with others. He would write messages then save them as drafts, never sending the actual emails. Other folks would open the draft, read it, and delete.

#shady

From The New York Times:

Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, had posted a $10 million bond and was under house arrest while awaiting his September trial on a host of charges, including money laundering and false statements.

But Judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States District Court for the District of Columbia said Mr. Manafort could not remain free, even under stricter conditions, in the face of new felony charges that he had engaged in witness tampering while out on bail. “This is not middle school,” she said during a 90-minute court hearing. “I can’t take away his cellphone.”

Mr. Trump, in a tweet on Friday, defended Mr. Manafort and criticized Judge Jackson’s action against him, though he seemed to misunderstand what the judge had done.

“Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob. What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair!”

In a superseding indictment filed last week, the prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, claimed that Mr. Manafort and a close associate, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, had contacted two witnesses earlier this year, hoping to persuade them to testify that Mr. Manafort had never lobbied in the United States for Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Russia president of Ukraine.

The Twitterverse reacts:

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New Music: Martin Garrix & Khalid Team On ‘Ocean’

DJ Martin Garrix teams up with Grammy nominated singer Khalid for new track 'Ocean'
DJ/producer Martin Garrix

Super-talented (and way easy-on-the-eyes) DJ/producer Martin Garrix drops his latest track today, “Ocean,” teaming up with five-time Grammy nominated vocalist Khalid.

Both powerhouses in mainstream music today, the collaboration is poised to hit the top of the charts.

Ranked #1 on DJ Mag‘s Top 100 DJs list for 2016 and 2017, Garrix has been a busy boy scoring huge, viral hits like ‘Scared To Be Lonely‘ with Dua Lipa which notched 551 million streams on Spotify, ‘So Far Away‘ with David Guetta, Jamie Scott and Romy Dya (169 million streams), and ‘There For You‘ with Troye Sivan (354 million streams).

Khalid’s ‘Silence’ with Marshmello last year popped an amazing 565 million Spotify streams. And his smash hit ‘American Teen‘ album was packed with 15 singles, each garnering millions of streams.

Khalid and Martin Garrix on the set of their new music video, 'Ocean'
Khalid and Martin Garrix on the set of their new music video, ‘Ocean’

Instead of a high-octane, house burner, the mid-tempo ballad sits right in the sweet spot for Khalid’s rich alto and falsetto.

And Garrix takes his time utilizing live strings with an orchestra putting the beats on slow burn until they kick in for the chorus.

The chill-out track is partnered with a music video featuring both artists in a cool, kaleidoscopic world of light and shadow.

This is definitely going on the poolside playlist. I’ve previously written about Garrix on The Randy Report here.

Check out the new track below.

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Ellen DeGeneres Announces First Stand-Up Shows In 15 Years

Ellen DeGeneres announces three city standup comedy tour in August 2018

Even though we have her in our living rooms every weekday, it’s still hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since Ellen DeGeneres has stepped out to do standup comedy.

But that drought is about to end as the comedian/talk-show host has announced a three city comedy tour for August before her Netflix comedy special airs.

Get ready to buy your tickets because comedian, talk-show host, and philanthropist extraordinaire Ellen DeGeneres is hitting the road for a three-city comedy tour in August before her Netflix special airs.

An Evening with Ellen DeGeneres will be presented by Live Nation and will hit Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego.

The Emmy Award-winner’s last special, Here and Now, aired in 2003 on HBO.

Tickets for Ellen’s tour go on sale Tuesday, June 19th.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, DeGeneres will tape her Netflix special during the final shows in Seattle.

Here’s the full list of tour dates:

August 10 – San Diego, CA / Balboa Theatre
August 11 – San Diego, CA / Balboa Theatre
August 12 – San Diego, CA / Balboa Theatre
August 15 – San Francisco, CA / Davies Symphony Hall
August 16 – San Francisco, CA / Davies Symphony Hall
August 17 – San Francisco, CA / Davies Symphony Hall
August 22 – Seattle, WA / Benaroya Hall
August 23 – Seattle, WA / Benaroya Hall

Click here for ticket info.

Check out her last HBO comedy special, Here and Now, below:

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Best Rated LGBTQ Films & TV Since 2010

From the film God’s Own Country

One of the top movie and television review sites, Rotten Tomotoes, has compiled lists of the ten best reviewed LGBTQ films and television shows since 2010 (so no Brokeback Mountain).

The list crosses genres from Academy Award and Emmy Award-winners to foreign language projects.

I’m going to preface the list by saying I can think of some excellent films that didn’t make the Top 10 list, but this is based on Rotten Tomatoes reviews, not mine.

Here are the lists – how many of these have you seen?

Top 10 LGBTQ Movies of the 2010’s:

  1. God’s Own Country (2017) – Certified Fresh at 99%
  2. Moonlight (2016) – Certified Fresh at 98%
  3. BPM (2017) – Certified Fresh at 98%
  4. Tangerine (2015) – Certified Fresh at 97%
  5. Tomboy (2011) – Certified Fresh at 97%
  6. Call Me By Your Name (2016) – Certified Fresh at 95%
  7. Behind The Candelabra (2013) – Certified Fresh at 95%
  8. Carol (2015) – Certified Fresh at 95%
  9. Pariah (2011) – Certified Fresh at 94%
  10. A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica) (2018) – Certified Fresh at 94%

The cast of Banana

Top 10 LGBTQ TV Shows of TtheE 2000’s:

  1. Banana (2015) – Fresh at 100%
  2. The Fosters (2013 – 2018) Fresh at 97%
  3. Queer Eye (2018 – TBD) Certified Fresh at 96%
  4. Pose (2018 – TBD) Certified Fresh at 96%
  5. Orange is the New Black (2013 – TBD) Fresh at 91%
  6. Cucumber (2015) Fresh at 91%
  7. Looking (2014 – 2015) Fresh at 90%
  8. Will & Grace (2017 – TBD) Certified Fresh at 86%
  9. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018) – Certified Fresh at 86%
  10. Sense8 (2015 – 2018) Fresh at 86%

(h/t Instinct)