• NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: Only 18% of those surveyed say they will “definitely” support Donald Trump in 2020. However, 38% says they will definitely not vote for the Trumpster along with another 14% who say they “probably” will vote for the Democrat on the ballot.
• Quinnipiac University poll: 43% of those polled say Donald Trump is responsible for the current economic conditions while 45% give the credit to President Obama. Regarding job approval, 37% say Trump is doing a good job while a whopping 59% disapprove of how he’s handling his duties.
Also, 50% of American voters, including 59% of women and 41% of men, say Donald Trump should resign due to sexual allegations against him.
• Real Clear Politics polling average for the 2018 Generic Congressional Vote shows the Democrats leading by 13 points over Republicans, 49-36, looking forward to next year’s mid-term elections.
• Real Clear Politics polling average shows 60% of Americans feel the country is going in the wrong direction almost one year into Donald Trump’s presidency; only 32% say we’re heading in the right direction.
Virulently anti-gay Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has been banned from entering the United States and had financial assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The new sanctions blacklisted Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
U.S. authorities accused Kadyrov of overseeing “an administration involved in disappearances and extrajudicial killings.”
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed the sanctions, which freeze the banks accounts of those targeted, under a 2012 law known as the Magnitsky Act.
The Magnitsky Act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian auditor and whistleblower. The act also seeks to hold responsible those U.S. authorities allege orchestrated or benefited from the death of Magnitsky.
Kadyrov is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and is also credited with overseeing what became known as the “gay purge,” the systematic rounding up and killing of dozens of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya this year.
Kadyrov has denied any LGBT people even live in Chechnya.
Also sanctioned today was Ayub Kataev, a prison warden and head of a branch of the Chechen internal affairs ministry, who denied reports of anti-gay killings.
GLAAD was, understandably, thrilled by the news issuing this statement:
GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today welcomed the inclusion of Ramzan Kadyrov to the list of suspected human rights abusers who have any assets held in U.S. banks frozen and are barred from entry into the United States under the Magnitsky Act.
Authorities in Chechnya have detained and attacked over 100 LGBTQ men because of their perceived sexual orientation and at least 27 men have reportedly been killed by Chechen government officials as of June 2017. Since then additional tragic stories of killings and disappearances of LGBTQ men and woman have been reported.
“Sanctioning those responsible for the horrendous anti-LGBTQ persecution in Chechnya, including Ramzan Kadyrov, is a step towards holding human rights abusers accountable for their atrocities and was a needed action to show that human rights must be prioritized above the personal politics of this administration,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “We cannot stop here as we face a growing epidemic of anti-LGBTQ violence and discrimination around the world that must be swiftly and fully addressed.”
What could make the holiday season more merry, gay and bright than the full Judy Garland Christmas Show from 1963?
Take the time to sit back and enjoy Judy with her children Liza Minnelli, Lorna and Joey Luft plus guests Jack Jones and Mel Tormé as they weave holiday magic with Yuletide favorites like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” as well as “Little Drops of Rain,” “Over the Rainbow,” and more.
The Advocate has gathered a list of uber-gay holiday specials from artists like Dolly Parton, RuPaul, The Muppets, Liberace and more here.
Failed Alabama Republican candidate Roy Moore still has not conceded the race for U.S. Senate despite a huge 20,000 vote deficit.
Moore is hanging his hopes on overseas military ballots and additional provisional votes cast the day of the election.
But according to Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, only 366 military ballots were returned and 4,967 provisional ballots were counted, nowhere near the thousands of votes he needs.
The anti-LGBT former judge has begged followers for $75,000 to establish an “Election Integrity Program” to prove there were over 20,000 cases of voter fraud in the election.
Desperate to enjoy the passage of the GOP Tax Scam, Donald Trump lashed out at critics (for a change) in today’s Trump Twitter rant:
The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M.
The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean. This is truly a case where the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
I’d like to remind you that during the George W. Bush years, there were two massive “tax cuts” that eventually led to the biggest recessions the country has seen since the Great Depression.
Many CEOs are already speaking out saying they have no intention of raising wages or hiring more middle-class employees with the expected funds from these tax cuts.
The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M.
The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean. This is truly a case where the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
The House of Representatives passed Republicans’ sweeping tax overhaul on Tuesday, sending the plan to the Senate and setting the stage for the bill to be signed by President Trump as early as this week.
The bill passed the House 227 to 203. All but 12 Republican members voted for the bill. Zero Democrats supported it.
Senate Republicans are planning to vote Tuesday night. Party leaders appeared to have sewn up the bill’s passage Friday when holdout Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.) pledged their support.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is in Arizona battling brain cancer and is not expected to attend the vote, though he has said he supports the bill.
UPDATE: The House will have to hold a re-vote on the tax reform legislation because two provisions in the bill violated the rules governing the legislation. The Senate still plans on voting tonight and the House will vote again tomorrow.
According to The Hill, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) quickly seized on the Senate parliamentarian’s ruling, saying “the House revote is the latest evidence of just how shoddily written the GOP tax scam really is.”
Little Monsters – get ready to book your tickets for Sin City!
Lady Gaga will become the next pop diva to have a residency in Las Vegas.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Gaga is signing a 36 show deal to perform at The Park Theater at the Monte Carlo.
Expected to premiere in late 2018, Gaga is rumored to be paid an estimated $400,000 per show.
Since opening in late 2016, the 6,300 seat Park Theater has hosted superstar artists such as Bruno Mars, Cher, and Ricky Martin.
The rumors are true! I will have my own residency at MGM’s Park Theater. Get ready for a brand new show!! It’s been my lifelong dream to be a Las Vegas girl, I’m so overjoyed! LOVE YOU LITTLE MONSTERS WE DID IT, MEET ME IN Las Vegas!! #LasVegasGoesGagapic.twitter.com/UhPdW5wgXu— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) December 19, 2017
A Randy Report favorite, singer/songwriter Tom Goss drops his latest single – “Gay Christmas” – just as many of us are making plans (or not) to head home for the holidays.
The track is classic Tom Goss as he trusts his solid melody and taut, sober lyrics to convey what many LGBTs feel during the holiday season.
Via press release:
The song, which comes out as millions of people head home for the holidays, was inspired by the pain many LGBT people feel while struggling to be accepted by their families and childhood friends.
“Too many of us have had to learn to accept less from our families when it comes to fully embracing us for who we are,” says Goss, who hails from Wisconsin but now lives in Los Angeles with his husband. “It’s become even worse since the election, due to the sense of betrayal we felt when we learned how family and friends voted. Yet we are expected to be the ones to forgive, to ‘move on’ and pretend everything is okay, even as the current administration and GOP keep supporting anti-gay politicians and policies.”
Though the song is somber — weary vocals set against a toy piano and music-box chimes — it ends with a redemptive and powerful decision: the narrator refusing to accept less by going home, choosing instead to spend Christmas in a better place.
The accompanying music video, directed by Nathaniël Siri, brings that positive ending to life. The camera follows five people who feel alienated from the Christmas spirit, but who redeem the day by gathering for a “Friendsmas” picnic.
Warner Brothers dropped the first trailer for the upcoming Oceans 8 starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett due in theaters June 8th, 2018.
The flick is a spin-off of the popular Oceans 11 trilogy that starred George Clooney and his team of expert con men.
Bullock plays the sister of “Danny Ocean” (George Clooney). Recently released from prison, “Debbie Ocean” gathers a team of 7 women to steal jewelry during the uber-high-end Met Gala.
The film also stars Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, with Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter.
The film is directed by Gary Ross (The Hunger Games) and produced by Ocean’s Eleven director Steven Soderbergh.
As most politically-minded Americans know, the only actual consequential thing Donald Trump has actually done in the past 11 months is have his Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, confirmed to the high court.
But The Washington Post is reporting Trump considered rescinding Gorsuch’s nomination after the judge told Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in a private meeting that he found Trump’s repeated attacks on the federal judiciary “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”
The president worried that Gorsuch would not be “loyal,” one of the people said, and told aides that he was tempted to pull Gorsuch’s nomination — and that he knew plenty of other judges who would want the job.
This account is based on interviews with 11 people familiar with the episode, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Trump was especially upset by what he viewed as Gorsuch’s insufficient gratitude for a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court, White House officials said. The judge sent the president a handwritten letter dated March 2, thanking him for the nomination and explaining how grateful he was, according to a copy obtained by The Post.
Aides said Trump did not immediately receive the note, but it was retrieved by legislative affairs director Marc Short and then viewed by Trump on March 10, helping ease his concerns.
Trump was, predictably, defensive and denied the report:
A story in the @washingtonpost that I was close to “rescinding” the nomination of Justice Gorsuch prior to confirmation is FAKE NEWS. I never even wavered and am very proud of him and the job he is doing as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The unnamed sources don’t exist!
