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Trump Attacks AG Jeff Sessions For Announcing Investigation Into Possible Surveillance Abuse

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

File this one under “Infighting is funny:”

Earlier today, Donald Trump issued a twitter rant at his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions after Sessions’ announcement that he will ask the inspector general of the Department of Justice to look into allegations of government surveillance abuse.

Trump went ballistic tweeting:

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

After months of being a public punching bag for Trump, Sessions has issued a rare public response to the attack this morning which called him “disgraceful” for his handling of the FISA warrants issue.

Via press release from the Department Of Justice:

“We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.” – Jeff Sessions.

In spite of Trump’s tirade, Congressional Republicans stood by the decision and Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and current chairman of the House Oversight Committee, lauded Horowitz on Wednesday saying he has been “fair, fact centric, and appropriately confidential with his work.”

“I have complete confidence in him and hope he is given the time, the resources and the independence to complete his work,” Mr. Gowdy said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also signaled his support for Mr. Horowitz.

More from the Twitterverse (and these are serious-minded people, folks):

And these are Republicans over at Fox News:

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Dicks Sporting Goods Announces No More Gun Sales After Florida School Massacre

Dick’s Sporting Goods is not only ending the sale of all assault-style firearms in its stores, they will no longer sell guns to anyone under 21 years old.

Via USA Today:

Assault-style weapon sales ended at Dick’s-branded stores after the Newtown, Conn. school shooting in 2012. But the company was still selling them at its 35 Field & Stream locations, which specialize in hunting and outdoors products.

More: Here’s what Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack wrote about his company’s actions

“As we looked at what happened down in Parkland, we were so disturbed and saddened by what happened, we felt we really needed to do something,” Stack told GMA’s George Stephanopoulos.

Stack acknowledged that the Parkland school shooter had purchased a shotgun at one of the company’s stores in November. Though the killer did not use the gun in the shooting, the realization served as a catalyst for action.

“We did everything by the book, we did everything that the law required and still he was able to buy a gun,” Stack said. “When we looked at that, we said, ‘The systems that are in place across the board just aren’t effective enough to keep us from selling someone a gun like that.’”

To be honest, this comes as no surprise. I’ve loved Dicks my whole life 😉

And yes, you can bet I’m heading to the nearest store and buying something today.

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Eulogy: Bruno The Wonder Dog

Bruno the wonder dog passed away yesterday. I will love him forever.
Bruno the wonder dog

With heavy hearts, Michael and I want to share that Bruno the wonder dog passed away yesterday afternoon. In the 24 hours since his crossing the rainbow bridge, we’ve quietly begun to process this seismic shift in our lives. Bruno was “the” alpha in the house. Every moment was about his enormous, funny, charming and confident personality. I’ve said for years that Bruno was my best friend, and I mean that. He loved me; he made me feel special; we shared a connection that cannot be parsed. It was it’s own unique relationship. The phrase “indomitable spirit” was surely crafted with The Brun in mind. Few dogs spend their 15 years smiling and filling a house with so much love as Bruno did even in the face of so many adversities. At the age of 5, he ruptured a disc in his back and was completely paralyzed unable to walk at all. After two back surgeries, months of Michael and I and Bruno doing physical therapy in the bath tub; a determined look fixed in his always expressive eyes; and eventually moving to water therapy in the pool, incredibly he regained about 70% of his back legs. Related: Happy 15th Birthday, Bruno The Wonder Dog There was surgery to repair an issue with his bladder. There was the scratched cornea which led to the cone of shame which he hated. But weeks of the cone and five different eye drops multiple times a day, he healed again. The past year he’s been coping with the onset of Cushings Disease, an autoimmune condition. None of this fazed The Brun. Truly, he was Bruno the wonder dog. Without too many details, Monday night he passed out in front of us in obvious distress. After minutes of mouth to mouth resuscitation he came back. He was shaken, but we stayed up with him thinking he would, like everything else, shake it off. He spent the night sitting up afraid to lie down. His breathing was measured but at least he was breathing. After about 7 hours of watching him through the night we took him to his vet. During the drive to the vet’s office, he had another “attack” and almost passed out in the car again. The doctors were able to ascertain he had developed serious heart disease which kept him from getting enough oxygen in his lungs. We were told with treatment and drugs he could get somewhat better, but it was likely he would have more attacks, and a very rough road ahead for him – and he would never be 100% again in terms of breathing. We’d never seen fear in Bruno’s eyes. Bruno was a champion; the quarterback under pressure who never blinked. He could see us but it was clear his focus was on breathing. We knew that his last months couldn’t be this. This was not how Bruno lived his life. We’re thankful we had the information to make that terrible decision that no one ever wants to make. He was calm; he knew we were there in his last minutes. We share this as so many people knew Bruno, and so many had come to know him via The Randy Report. We know he will always be a part of us, that our memories are forever. Right now it’s just the void, the sense of someone missing, the lights are dimmer, everything seems to be less colorful. Life feels less. But he has crossed the rainbow bridge and he’s running so fast again, jumping impossibly high, outracing the big dogs and playing with his family Sabrina, Bandit and Olivia (and so many new friends). We’ll be fine. Tyler and Bear (Bruno’s pups) are still here at the age of 14 and clearly sense the change. They’re being very sensitive to us. We felt we needed to share this out of respect for the huge impact that Bruno made in our lives. We weren’t looking for another family member when Bruno came to us, but we were found. And everything was better because of him.

Bruno’s headshot when he was a puppy

 

This is us.

 

Bruno the wonder dog - early days in NYC with Michael
Michael and puppy Bruno at the dog park in NYC He loved running with the big dogs.

 

Michael and Bruno having a chat

 

This is every morning at 6AM beginning work on The Randy Report. I learned to type with my elbow down so he could be comfortable. I never minded…

 

Reminding me who’s in charge

 

The first time he saw his puppies

 

Loving being a daddy…

 

ChippenDog

 

Bruno’s first Christmas

 

He always picked his spot first…

 

Brun slept with his paw on my leg. He always wanted to know where I was.

 

Michael, Bruno and little Olivia sleeping in LA

 

One of those many, many vet visits

 

Bruno loved pool time. And yes, like father like son…
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“Funeral Home” – Civil Rights Groups Highlights How Public Accommodation Laws Affect LGBTs

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers its ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the Movement Advancement Project shares this message asking folks to consider how public accommodation laws affect LGBT Americans on a day-to-day basis.

Via press release:

Inspired by a real legal case, Funeral Home, produced by MAP as part of the Open to All campaign, depicts a grieving widow who has just lost her spouse, and she and her family are turned away from a funeral home and refused burial services for her wife.

The ad is meant to show how a loss in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case would open the door to much wider ranging forms of discrimination—including what the grieving widow in the ad faced.

Open to All is the nationwide public engagement campaign designed to raise awareness about how our nation’s nondiscrimination laws are under attack—and to defend the bedrock principle that when businesses open their doors to the public, they should be Open to All. Learn more and find out how you can get involved.

Watch the spot below, and don’t think for a moment this isn’t already a reality in some towns.

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News Round-Up: February 27, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Bernardo Belmar (above) reminds us why winter living is luscious on the left coast.

• Speaking of the left coast, California lawmakers have proposed legislation that would declare so-called “conversion therapy” an “unlawful practice” and fraud.

• In March of 2017, WikiLeaks tweeted it never had direct contact with long-time Trump friend/adviser Roger Stone. The Atlantic has obtained private Twitter messages between the two showing the denial was a lie.

• Donald Trump son-in-law and presidential adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded.

• “Goddess of pop” and awesome gay ally Kylie Minogue will headline New York City Pride.

• Trans actress Laverne Cox dropped her first single “Beat for the Gods” this week, and the music video gives glory to voguing, drag and club dance with some Fosse references thrown in for good measure.

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Olympians Adam Rippon & Gus Kenworthy: Coming Out Made Us Better Athletes

U.S. Olympians Adam Rippon (L) and Gus Kenworthy (R)

In an interview with The Washington Post, freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy and figure skater Adam Rippon shared their thoughts on being the first two out male Winter Olympians and how it affected not only themselves but other athletes.

Both acknowledged that one byproduct of their openness about being gay was the encounters with closeted athletes and coaches who thanked them for the representation.

Kenworthy said two athletes and a coach approached him while Rippon spoke of a coach did the same.

The duo, who became friends thanks to their shared status as “America’s gay Olympians,” also noted the enormous fear and energy that being closeted took from each of their lives.

Said Rippon, “I think you spend so much time worrying about what other people think about, that you realize that you had all of this extra energy that you didn’t need to be using. And, you know, I think straight people never have this experience of coming out. And it’s such a life-changing moment that you become so strong. I gained so much power and strength from that moment.”

“And I agree with what he said about it being effortless,” Kenworthy added, “because when I was in the closet, it was so [pause] much [pause] effort to stay in the closet and constantly worrying, and fearing I was going to fall asleep before the other guys on my team and say something in my sleep, or anything. I was just, all the time, always nervous that I was going to out myself, that someone was going to find out, and it was this horrible, horrible thing. And now that I’m out, and I realize how great it is, and I’m just getting to enjoy my life, I feel like I just feel free and liberated and I’m competing better, interviews, anything, I just get to be myself, and it’s a strange thing to be thanked for that, but it’s also amazing.”

The two athletes also agreed that they felt the need to be at the top of their respective sports before they could come out in that being “the best” meant haters couldn’t throw shade.

“For myself,” Kenworthy said, “when I came out [in 2015], I felt like I needed to be the best, because that was what I thought it would take to be accepted. No one can talk s— on you if you’re the No. 1 ranked in the world, and so that’s what my whole thing was, and so I made sure that the season before I came out, I was the No. 1-ranked guy in the world, and that was how I wanted to come out. Because I felt like, ‘You can’t argue with that.’ But in the end, no one was trying to argue with it anyway.”

“I actually feel exactly the same,” Rippon said, “where I made sure that when I came out, I was skating very well, so that I would be taken seriously. And after I came out, I won my national title.”

Truly, Rippon and Kenworthy were taken very seriously in their sports.

And regarding the “gay Olympian” label? Rippon summed it all up thusly:

“I think, at the end of the day, that we’re just Olympians. And I think we’re ‘gay Olympians,’ and the next gay Olympians will just be called Olympians, and I think that’s what we really hope, that it won’t be a story.”

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Mississippi: City Council Denies Pride Parade Permit With No Reason Given

The LGBT community of Starkville, Mississippi, was informed last week that an application for a permit to organize what would have been the town’s first Pride parade was denied after a 4-3 vote by the town’s aldermen.

To add to their frustration, the organizers weren’t given a reason for the denial. Three of the aldermen who voted against the permit left through the back entrance.

At the city council meeting, 16 people showed up to support the parade, only two spoke against it. One of the naysayers told the city council a Pride parade would turn the town into “a Sin City.”

Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill denounced the decision saying in a statement it sent a message that the small college town is not “inclusive.” The mayor also pointed out that Oxford, Mississippi, where the University of Mississippi is based, has held gay pride parades for several years.

(source)

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News Round-Up: February 26, 2018

Tyson Beckford

Some news items you might have missed:

• Supermodel Tyson Beckford does “slow Monday” a whole lot better than I do.

• Australia’s new Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack once warned “sordid homosexuals” could wipe out humanity. He says he’s grown since those statements, but has he?

• Openly bisexual high school senior at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Emma González, who has become one of the most prominent voices calling for gun control legislation, has amassed over a million Twitter followers since the gun massacre. It’s worth noting the NRA only has 588K Twitter followers.

• The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a decision by the Arizona Supreme Court that recognized a woman as the legal parent of a child she and her same-sex spouse conceived through assisted reproduction.

• Donald Trump wants his longtime personal pilot John Dunkin to run the multi-billion dollar Federal Aviation Administration.

• Check out director Jake Wilson’s “boy version” of Hayley Kiyoko’s latest single, “Curious.” Featuring dancer/model Donald Romain and blond bear actor Tyler Kimball, the video flips the lesbian script of the original video and gives us serious gay party flirtation.

I’m bouncing to the track, and the two men are woofilicous 🙂

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Pentagon Confirms 1st Transgender Recruit Has Signed Contract To Join Military Since Judge Ruled Against Trans Ban

The Pentagon has confirmed that the first transgender person has signed a contract to join the US military, a development made possible after a federal judge ruled that the military must accept transgender recruits.

CNN reports:

“The Department of Defense confirms that as of February 23, 2018, there is one transgender individual under contract for service in the US Military,” Maj. Dave Eastburn told CNN.

The individual has met all the standards for serving in the military and signed a contract but has not yet begun basic training.

As you may recall, Trump surprised many last summer when he tweeted, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”

Trump went on to blame “the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail” for the reasoning behind his decision.

It was later revealed he had not consulted with the heads of our armed forces.

This past Friday, Defense Secretary Mattis delivered his recommendations to the President regarding the future of transgender service members.

“We are waiting for the President to make a decision based on the Secretary’s recommendation,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning told reporters Monday.

Earlier today I reported that several civil rights groups ran a full-page ad in USA Today calling on Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to “not to put their politics ahead of our troops” and reverse the transgender military ban.

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SCOTUS Refuses To Hear DACA Appeal By Trump Administration

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt Donald Trump a serious setback today by declining to take up the administration’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that requires the government to keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program going.

From NBC News:

Under a lower court order that remains in effect, the Department of Homeland Security must continue to accept renewal applications from the roughly 700,000 young people who are currently enrolled in the program, known as DACA. The administration had intended to shut the program down by March 5, but that deadline is now largely meaningless.

In a brief order, the court said simply, “It is assumed the court of appeals will act expeditiously to decide this case.”

Monday’s denial also gives Congress more time to come up with a legislative solution, though repeated bipartisan efforts have failed so far.

At a White House meeting with governors from around the coutry, President Donald Trump said after the court’s decision, “We’d like to help DACA” and criticized the lower court.

The Supreme Court’s denial Monday was expected, because the justices rarely accept appeals asking them to bypass the lower courts.

The DACA program allows children of illegal immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” to remain in the U.S. if they were under 16 when their parents brought them to the U.S. and if they arrived by 2007.

DACA status is given to those who pass a background check, have no prior illegal history and have stayed in school or have current employment. Each “dreamer” must renew their status every two years.

As Pete Williams of NBC News explains below this doesn’t mean the case can’t make it to SCOTUS, only that SCOTUS wants to see the case make it’s way through the regular course of appeals.

At this date, even if the Trump administration took the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the case wouldn’t possibly be heard at SCOTUS until this fall at the earliest.

Of course, Congress could choose to act legislatively on the issue, but who knows if that will happen?