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Steve Bannon OUT At Breitbart News

How far the self-perceived mighty can fall…

Former White House chief strategist and founding member of Breitbart News has been ousted from his position at the far-right leaning website.

Steve Bannon is out at far-right Breitbart News, the outlet confirmed Tuesday.

Bannon has served as executive chairman of Breitbart News since 2012 following founder Andrew Breitbart’s death.

From HuffPost:

Rumors of Bannon’s ouster from the conservative news outlet began Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the owners of the publication were debating Bannon’s future.

During a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Breitbart should consider firing Bannon.

“I certainly think that it’s something they should look at and consider,” she said.

Bannon’s exit comes after he feuded with President Donald Trump last week. The former executive was quoted saying that a 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., other Trump associates and a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower was “treasonous.”

“The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers,” Bannon told Michael Wolff in an excerpt from Wolff’s new book, Fire and Fury.

“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately,” Bannon added.

Rebekah Mercer, a major financial backer of Breitbart, recently distanced herself from Bannon in an interview with The Washington Post.

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Florida: Broward County Commission Bans “Ex-Gay” Therapy

The Broward County Commission voted unanimously today to ban conversion therapy (also known as ex-gay torture), becoming the 16th and largest Florida municipality to outlaw the harmful practice.

Other municipalities in the Sunshine State with similar bans include Palm Beach County, Boca Raton, Miami, Tampa, Wilton Manors, Key West, and Oakland Park.

To date, nine states have banned the abusive practice as well as several major cities including Philadelphia, Washington DC, Seattle, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, and many more.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Trump: “I’ll Beat Oprah”

During an open meeting of lawmakers at the White House today, Donald Trump told reporters he would beat media billionaire Oprah Winfrey in a presidential race were she to run.

“I’ll beat Oprah. Oprah would be… a lot of fun. I know her very well. You know I did one of her last shows. She had Donald Trump – this was before politics. No, I like Oprah, but I don’t think she’s gonna run”

After Oprah’s electrifying 9-minute speech at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards Sunday, pundits have been salivating at the idea of Oprah Winfrey running for president in 2020.

You might recall many felt Trump wouldn’t run for president either.

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BAFTA Nominations Have Good News For LGBT-Themed Films

The British Academy Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) released its list of nominees today and there’s good news for several LGBT-themed films.

• Call Me By Your Name received 4 nominations (Best Film, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Leading Actor for Timothée Chalamet). Chalamet was also nominated for the public-voted EE Rising Star Award.

• God’s Own Country received a nod for Best British film. Last month, the gay rural romance was a big winner at the British Independent Film Awards taking home best British independent film, best actor for Josh O’Connor, and best debut screenwiter for Francis Lee, who also directed the England-set gay romance.

• Lady Bird earned three nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Saoirse Ronan, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Laurie Metcalf and Best Original Screenplay. (Call Me By Your Name‘s Timothée Chalamet also co-stars as “Kyle Scheible.”)

The awards will be held on February 18 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

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Same-Sex Marriage Officially Begins In Australia

Ring them bells! Same-sex couples began to legally marry in Australia on Tuesday.

Back in November, over 60% of Australians who responded to a non-binding postal plebiscite said “yes” to marriage equality.

Less than 3 weeks later, the Australian Senate voted “yes,” and on December 7 the House of Representatives agreed in a lopsided, nearly unanimous vote.

In Australia, there is a required 30 day waiting period once an application to marry has been made. A few couples were given special permission to wed early due to unusual circumstances.

Australia is now the 26th country to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

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Video: Trump Rants On Football Players Disrespecting National Anthem, But Doesn’t Know The Words Himself

Donald Trump has spent months – months I tell you – demanding that football players stand and respect our flag and our national anthem.

Dammit!

And lord knows no one is better at making a point living by example than Donald J. Trumper.

Well,…. except maybe that time he made a point to attend the national college football game, stand on the open field, hand over heart (it must be somewhere in there) and somewhat mouth about a third of the words to The Star-Spangled Banner.

(psssst – Donald – they had a camera on your face the whole time…)

Needless to say, this doesn’t end well for the Trumpster. All that hypocrisy and all, you know.

Watch below, then check out the Twitterverse’s thoughts on BannerGate.

Btw – the Alabama Crimson Tide won in overtime over the Georgia Bulldogs 26-23. To be honest, Alabama had the best costumes.

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Tweet Of The Day

Journalist Yashar Ali gives us my favorite tweet of the day sharing this uber-sweet moment when Oprah met one of HER heroes…

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News Round-Up: January 8, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• It may be cold in a lot of the U.S., but fitness trainer/model Austen Gravett (above) says the cold never bothered him anyway.

• Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien, the founder of the Miss Trans America Pageant, was found stabbed to death in her Massachusetts home on Friday. Her husband, Mark Steele-Knudslien, 47, has been charged in the murder after confessing to the crime. Christa, sadly, becomes the first transgender woman killed in 2018.

• Total LGBT ally and all-around badass pop star Pink will perform the national anthem at this year’s Super Bowl. Her latest album, Beautiful Trauma, has sold over 2 million copies in just a few months.

• Alt-right provocateur, homocon and professional asshole Milo Yiannopoulos will be representing himself in his lawsuit against his former publisher, Simon & Schuster, after his own lawyers dumped him.

• Donald Trump says he wants $18 billion in funding for his wall along the Mexican border or he won’t allow the DACA program to continue. The outcome will affect 800,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. as young children. Remember the 1,000+ times Trump told the world Mexico would pay for the wall?

• The West Hollywood gays in L.A. were dying when THE Diana Ross dropped by popular gay hang The Abbey with her son Evan this past Saturday night. Video shows she still can groove. She is still The Boss.

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U.S. Supreme Court Refuses To Review Anti-Gay Mississippi Law

Bloomberg is reporting that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a Mississippi “religious freedom” law, HB1523, that allows broad discrimination against LGBT people.

In denying the request for review, SCOTUS is allowing the law to remain intact.

The justices turned away two appeals by state residents and organizations that contended the measure violates the Constitution. A federal appeals court said the opponents hadn’t suffered any injury that would let them press their claims in court.

The Mississippi fight in some ways represented the flip side of a Colorado case the high court is currently considering; the question in that instance is whether the state can require a baker who sells wedding cakes to make one for a same-sex couple’s wedding.

The cases are testing states’ ability to regulate what happens when LGBT rights come into conflict with religious freedoms. Colorado is aiming to bolster gay rights by enforcing an anti-discrimination law, even though the Denver-area baker says he has a religious objection to same-sex marriage.

The Mississippi law, by contrast, gives priority to religious rights. The state enacted its law less than a year after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

The measure says religious people can’t be sued or penalized by the government for declining to provide services for same-sex marriage ceremonies. The law also protects people who believe gender is an immutable characteristic or who object to sex out of wedlock.

The 2016 law was passed after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark Obergefell ruling which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

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White House Adviser Stephen Miller Escorted From CNN Building After Refusing To Leave

Stephen Miller

White House adviser Stephen Miller’s disastrous interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper yesterday ended with Tapper bringing the segment to an early close thanks to Miller’s petulant behavior and refusal to answer any questions.

With Miller still babbling in the background, Tapper ran out of patience telling Miller, “I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time. Thank you, Stephen,” as he ended the segment.

Today we get reports that Miller would not leave the CNN studios and had to be escorted off the premises.

Business Insider reports:

White House adviser Stephen Miller was escorted off the set of CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday after a contentious interview with host Jake Tapper. Two sources close to the situation told Business Insider that after the taping was done Miller was asked to leave several times. He ignored those requests and ultimately security was called and he was escorted out, the sources said. CNN declined to comment.

CBS News White House producer, Arden Farhi apparently acquired a transcript of the post-segment conversation between Tapper and Miller.

The best two lines from the exchange – Tapper telling Miller “This is the reason they don’t put you out on TV;” and Miller saying he was “offended.”

What a snowflake.

Here’s the transcript.