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Trump To Georgia Officials: ‘Find 11,780 Votes’

Donald Trump

Donald Trump
Donald Trump (screen capture)
In an extraordinary phone call between Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780” so the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia could be reversed. The hour-long phone call was obtained by the Washington Post. From the Washington Post:

“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” he [Trump] said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

Raffensperger responded: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”

At another point, Trump said: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The rambling, at times incoherent conversation, offered a remarkable glimpse of how consumed and desperate the president remains about his loss, unwilling or unable to let the matter go and still believing he can reverse the results in enough battleground states to remain in office.

“There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, a phrase he repeated again and again on the call. “There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”

You can listen to the excerpts below.

In addition to being harmful to our democratic process, Trump’s desperation is really very sad and pathetic. He continued his empty, baseless claims on Twitter, of course.

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Billy Porter Shares Behind-The-Scenes Info From POSE

Billy Porter as 'Pray Tell' on POSE

Billy Porter as 'Pray Tell' on POSE
Billy Porter as ‘Pray Tell’ on POSE (promo photo)
The acclaimed FX series Pose resumed shooting this fall after hitting the pause button due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Emmy Award winner Billy Porter shared some intel from behind-the-scenes when he sat down on Live With Kelly and Ryan this week. “We are shooting Season 3 right now with all of the COVID protocols in place,” Porter told the hosts. “It is not the easiest version of filming a television show that I have been a part of, but I am grateful that we are back to work. Disney is now the parent company of FX, and they have really taken this seriously. They are keeping us all very safe during this process.” What folks really want to know, though, is how are they filming those huge ball scenes created with a soundstage full of actors and extras? “We’re still trying to figure that part out,” Porter admitted. “We have not shot any of the balls yet. We have been shooting the scene work, and I believe we are waiting for the ball sequences to hopefully be shooting them in some sort of vaccine situation. So, we are pushing those scenes to next year.”

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News Round-Up: January 2, 2021

Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness with new husband Mark

Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness with new husband Mark
Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness and husband Mark Peacock (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • Deadline: Season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race will feature several A-list guest judges including Cynthia Erivo, Nicole Byer, Loni Love, TS Madison, and Jamal Sims. • Boy Culture: Taylor Dayne is getting dragged for pretending to be apolitical after she appeared at Donald Trump’s New Year’s Eve event at Mar-a-Lago. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Click over to KIT212’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in LGBTQ publications like Attitude Magazine naming out presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg as their ‘Person of the Year.’
Pete Buttigieg covers Attitude Magazine as their 'Person of the Year'
(image via Attitude Magazine)
• CNN: A federal judge has shitcanned Rep. Louie Gohmert’s ridiculous lawsuit to compel Vice President Mike Pence to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election. • New York Post: The “Soho Karen” who accused the 14-year-old son of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold of swiping her iPhone in a hotel (turned out she left it in an Uber) has been identified. Apparently, she also had two brushes with the law last year — one for public intoxication and another for drunken driving, according to a report. • Men’s Variety: Breaking down the reasons why you shouldn’t be worried about the coronavirus vaccine. • NewNowNext: Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness secretly got married last summer. Congratulations to the happy couple!

 

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Ted Cruz Joins The Cast Of ‘Electoral College Scrabble’

The daughter of far-right, anti-LGBTQ Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) just came out as bisexual?

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
More players sign up for political theater as 11 Republican Senators announce they will join in objecting to certifying state Electoral College results. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is apparently up for joining Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for the reindeer games on Wednesday in an attempt to play up to Donald Trump and his followers as he’s certain to make another run for the White House in 2024. From Axios:

Cruz, who, like Hawley, is thought to be considering a 2024 presidential bid, plans to release a statement this afternoon announcing his plans. Once the Texas Republican does so, several other senators from his party are expected to follow in a coordinated effort they consider distinct from Hawley’s.

Republicans involved in these talks include Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

Basically, the exercise on Wednesday will consist of reading the results of each state in alphabetical order. If a House member and a Senator object in writing to any state’s results the two chambers separate and are given two hours to debate whether to accept the challenge. In that the House is controlled by the Democrats, we know the House will vote the effort down. Even though the Senate is led by a bare Republican majority, Democrats will only need a handful of sane GOPers to vote down any challenge. But what this will do is slow down the confirmation of the Electoral College by a rate of two hours for each state the nutjobs challenge. IF the Senate were to agree to the challenge and the House oppose it, the Electoral College Act calls for the tie to be broken by counting the slate of electors certified by the top executive officer of a state – the governor. “The votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted.” In all of the swing states Trump has tried to question – Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Nevada – the governors have certified Joe Biden electors. All that to say, as I began, that this is all political theater.

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Congress Overrides Trump Defense Bill Veto

Donald Trump

Donald Trump
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/White House)
And stay out! In a virtual backhand, the Senate voted today to override Donald Trump’s veto of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). From the Washington Post:

The Senate on Friday voted to turn a $741 billion defense authorization bill into law over President Trump’s objections, delivering the first successful veto override of his presidency in the waning days of his administration.

The 81-to-13 vote in the Senate, just days after the House also voted in overwhelming numbers to back the legislation, was one of two rare rebukes of Trump on Friday from Republican lawmakers.

Ahead of the vote on rejecting the president’s veto, Senate Republicans blocked a Trump-endorsed effort to increase the size of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.

The House of Representatives voted 322-87 on Monday to overturn Trump’s veto. This is the only veto override of Trump’s presidency. The defense bill, which funds the armed forces, also includes a pay increase for the men and women in our military. Normally, this is a bill that gets widespread bipartisan support. But Trump wanted legislation to allow lawsuits against tech companies like Twitter, which the Donald longs to sue because they’ve taken to tagging his disinformation tweets with warning signs. He also opposed language in the defense bill that would rename 10 military bases currently named after Confederate leaders.

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Buzzfeed: Joe Manganiello Reads Thirst Tweets

True Blood star Joe Manganiello

True Blood star Joe Manganiello
Joe Manganiello (image via Depositphotos)
Joe Manganiello, formerly the woofy AF werewolf on True Blood, read thirst tweets about himself written by fans for Buzzfeed Celeb. One fan said they’d let Joe ‘raw them into the ground,” which was a new phrase for Joe but he plans on adding it to his lexicon. Another wrote, “I’d call Joe Manganiello daddy in front of my actual daddy.” Manganiello is currently appearing in the action/super-hero flick, Archenemy on Apple TV+. Longtime readers will recall I had quite the ‘thing’ for Mr. Manganiello. I often had ‘Daily Joe’ posts throughout the week 🙂

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Gay Party Boat In Puerto Vallarta Goes Down (And Not In A Good Way)

The gay party boat in Puerto Vallarta sank on New Year's Eve with 60 passengers onboard

The gay party boat in Puerto Vallarta sank on New Year's Eve with 60 passengers onboard
(image via OutAndAboutPV/Emilio Blanco)
I just saw on Twitter the gay party boat, PV Delice, that goes out on the ocean for hours as the gays merrily drink, drink, drink apparently capsized and sank to the bottom of the ocean. The trouble began at about 5 pm on Thursday according to OutAndAboutPV. The boat, carrying approximately 60 people had begun its trip back to the dock when the boat took on water. Emilio Blanco, visiting from Chicago, Illinois, shared photos from the disaster telling OutAndAboutPV, “It was like the Titanic, it went all down slowly.” Blanco said he wasn’t sure what caused the gay party boat to go down, but did note that the ocean was “a bit choppy.” Promotional image for gay party cruise “I think the crew just didn’t know how to maneuver the catamaran very well,” he added. “We were about to sail back to Puerto Vallarta, but the catamaran barely moved.” Fortunately, ten small boats responded to an SOS and showed up in time to help rescue passengers. Blanco shared that fortunately there were no injuries or deaths. OutAndAboutPV reached out to the operators of PV Delice for comment but hasn’t heard back yet. It’s been quite the week for the party gays in PV as Jeffrey Sanker’s annual White Party quietly went undercover and moved to a new location after the coronavirus surged in Puerto Vallarta. A representative from Puerto Vallarta’s tourism board contacted me to let me know that the subsequent beach parties at Mantamar Beach Club, which were part of the Sanker extravaganza, were also canceled.  

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New Year Resolutions: The Science of Motivation

The science behind motivation

The science behind motivation My favorite science guys are back with this very timely video explaining The Science of Motivation. Want to understand why New Year’s resolutions fall by the wayside so often? Hit play, and be smarter in three minutes. And for those folks looking for tips to stay motivated, the AsapSCIENCE guys have this list of tips to get you to your goals.

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NY Times: Trump Didn’t Want Folks COVID Tested Unless In ER And Vomiting

Donald Trump

Donald Trump
Donald Trump (photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr – CC License)
The New York Times spoke to several White House insiders regarding the whys and wherefores of Donald Trump’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The upshot seems to be practically every decision was predicated on: what would it mean for Trump? Between Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and not-an-infectious-expert Dr. Scott Atlas bending to Trump’s ego, scientists and doctors had a tough time getting solid health policy implemented. Trump thought wearing face masks wouldn’t appeal to his base, so he didn’t really encourage their use. And he really hated how the positivity rate of testing ‘made him look bad.’ Trump reportedly didn’t want folks tested for COVID until they were so sick they landed in an emergency room and were vomiting. From the New York Times:

It was a warm summer Wednesday, Election Day was looming and President Trump was even angrier than usual at the relentless focus on the coronavirus pandemic.

“You’re killing me! This whole thing is! We’ve got all the damn cases,” Mr. Trump yelled at Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, during a gathering of top aides in the Oval Office on Aug. 19. “I want to do what Mexico does. They don’t give you a test till you get to the emergency room and you’re vomiting.”

Mexico’s record in fighting the virus was hardly one for the United States to emulate. But the president had long seen testing not as a vital way to track and contain the pandemic but as a mechanism for making him look bad by driving up the number of known cases.

“I’m going to lose,” Trump told Kushner during one exchange. “And it’s going to be your fault, because of the testing.” In another episode, Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks tried to get Trump to embrace face mask use but with Meadows and adviser Stephen Miller pushing back, the Donald refused. Read the full report at the New York Times.

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News Round-Up: December 31, 2020

Norm Lewis at 54 Below

Norm Lewis at 54 Below
Tony Award nominee Norm Lewis
Some news items you might have missed: • News Observer: LGBTQ people in North Carolina can no longer be prevented from getting domestic violence protective orders, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. North Carolina had been the only state in the country to withhold emergency protections from people seeking protection from abuse by a same-sex partner. • Instinct Magazine: My editor at my other journalistic home, Adam Dupuis, shares this wild and wooly tale of a stalker who utilized 11 different email accounts and numerous Growlr accounts in order to cyberstalk him. #strangeness • 54Below: My fabulous friend (and Tony Award nominee) Norm Lewis has the perfect song for tonight – from his recent Feinstein’s/54 Below streaming concert NORM LEWIS: Christmastime Is Here! 

• Facebook: Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) wrote a lengthy breakdown of efforts to undermine the election, concluding there was no evidence of voter fraud. Sasse adds that – in private chats – no Republicans in Congress think the election was stolen. • NBC News: Grafton Police have arrested the Aurora Health Care pharmacist who intentionally spoiled more than 500 doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine valued around $8,000 to $11,000. He has been arrested on charges of first degree recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug, and criminal damage to property. • Washington Examiner: Donald Trump promised in the 2016 campaign to eliminate the federal debt over a two-term presidency. Instead, he will leave office having added massively to the debt. Since his inauguration, the total national debt has increased 30% from nearly $20 trillion to $27 trillion as of Monday.