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Trump Loses PA Challenge In 3rd Circuit Court Of Appeals

Donald Trump

Donald Trump on 60 Minutes (screen capture)
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed last weekend’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit brought by Team Trump in Pennsylvania that was argued by Rudy Giuliani. Pennsylvania has already certified its election results which show President-elect Joe Biden won the Keystone State by 81,660 votes. And Trump can’t blame the judge in this new ruling – it was one of his own nominees. The all-GOP panel agreed the case had ‘no merit.’ From the New York Times:

The 21-page ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was a complete repudiation of Mr. Trump’s effort to halt Pennsylvania’s certification process and a full-throated affirmation of a decision last Saturday by Judge Matthew W. Brann of Federal District Court in Williamsport, Penn., who dealt the Trump campaign its initial defeat in the case.

“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote on behalf of the appeals court. “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”

Trump’s lawyers have already announced they plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court where Trump believes his 3 handpicked justices would give him a win. BUT – most legal eagles doubt the high court would be willing to take up a case where the evidence is lacking and ultimately won’t change the outcome of the race. Even if SCOTUS were to take the case and rule in Trump’s favor, Biden would still have 286 votes in the Electoral College – far more than the required 270 to win the White House.

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Streaming Event: World AIDS Day 2020 – A National Conversation

Announcing the 2020 World AIDS Day National Conversation

Announcing the 2020 World AIDS Day National Conversation 2020 marks 40 years since the first cases of AIDS were reported in the United States, a pandemic that has led to nearly 700,000 lives lost and still no cure four decades later. This year, our nation struggles through another pandemic – the fight against Covid-19 – where the horrific loss of life has surpassed 250,000 in a matter of months. World AIDS Day 2020 – A National Conversation will be presented virtually on December 1, 2020 beginning at 10 am PST at www.aidsmemorial.org or at www.youtube.com/aidsmemorial. The event is free to the public and will be available for viewing on the same websites after the initial broadcast for those who can’t join live. Through a distinguished list of guest speakers, video storytelling, and musical tributes, the forum allows people to come together and honor the lives lost, the survivors, the activism and the heroes from over the span of four decades and two horrific pandemics. Award-winning actor and long-time AIDS advocate, Judith Light, will host the day’s commemoration event that will feature Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and David D. Ho, M.D., Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University. They will be honored with the memorial’s National Leadership Recognition Award. Mayors from cities that have been on the frontlines of both pandemics will lead a conversation on the impact the two pandemics have had on marginalized communities and how HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 have disproportionately affected communities of color and the systemic barriers that compound poor health outcomes. Activists who have helped spark change and movements will lead a conversation about activism during both pandemics and the ongoing struggle for social justice. During the event, the National AIDS Memorial will officially unveil the first-ever virtual exhibition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on its website that features nearly 10,000 Quilt panels representing all 50 states and U.S. territories, using the power and beauty of the Quilt to help the nation heal during these difficult times. The program will conclude with the traditional Reading of Names of newly engraved names at the memorial of loved ones lost to AIDS and those who loved them.

(via press release)

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LGBTQ Marching Band Makes 1st Appearance On Thanksgiving Day Parade

Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (image via Instagram)
The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps is one of the first queer marching bands in the United States, founded in 1979 in New York City. This year, the Big Apple Corps became the first openly LGBTQ group to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. From The Atlantic:

The band had to get creative in order to rehearse safely and legally this fall. Practicing indoors was out of the question, so its usual space in a Manhattan parish center would have to be traded for something without walls.

The band needed daylight, so rehearsals would be limited to weekends. New York did not allow gatherings of more than 50 people, but more than 80 musicians and color-guard members and confetti-cannon shooters needed to practice, so organizers began to investigate their options in New Jersey. They soon settled on a parking lot in the Newark suburbs, between a soccer stadium and a PATH station.

For six sunny Saturdays in October and November, the members of the Big Apple Corps spaced themselves eight feet apart along the yellow lines of the parking spaces, covered the ends of their instruments with plastic, and played.

Many on the Twitterverse noted the inclusion of an LGBTQ marching band wishing they’d seen such representation when they were in their marching band days. Congrats to everyone on the achievement! You can watch a bit of the Big Apple Corps’ Thanksgiving Day performance of the ABBA hit ‘Dancing Queen’ below.

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Snappish Trump Loses Cool At Press Conference

During his Thanksgiving Day address at the White House on Thursday, Donald Trump told reporters that if the Electoral College confirms president-elect Joe Biden’s victory, “they’ve made a mistake,” but he would give up power and leave the White House. When Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason asked to clarify his response in a follow-up question, Trump blew his cool and snapped at Mason, “Don’t talk to me that way – you’re just a lightweight. Don’t talk – I’m the president of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way.” Note – Jeff Mason is no ‘lightweight.’ He’s an experienced journalist and highly regarded in Washington, D.C. Trump did not confirm whether he would attend Biden’s inauguration in January. Experts and officials have said there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US elections.

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#TBT – Thanksgiving Produced By Marie Callender’s

Ignore my face – Marie Callender’s did right by us
Hot hubby Michael and I have been cooking all morning, but I was reminded of the time we did a ‘pre-cooked’ Thanksgiving meal from Marie Callender’s. p.s. it turned out tasty, but we like our family tradition-recipes 🙂 We are a household that cooks on the holidays. In the past several years, Michael has become more and more the ‘foodie,’ which bodes well for me 🙂 Michael does his Food Network & New Jersey Italian thing, and I offer my southern/soul food cuisine. But I thought I’d do a little #TBT when in 2013 we experimented with a prepared Thanksgiving meal from Marie Callenders.

Like the original Pilgrims, Michael returns from foraging in the wilderness for our Thanksgiving feast. p.s. check out the bicep.  Nice, right?

 

Armed with my cookbooks, I’m taken a bit aback.

 

Michael is so proud.

 

Now, wait a minute…. Oven?  Microwave?

 

Truth.

 

Michael attempts to help with the mashed potatoes

 

Michael poses to show how hard it is to unpack the box from MC. Note the flour splashed on his face…

 

“Look at me!  Look at all I prepared!”

 

Intimate but bountiful.  OK – I’m loving the ease of all this.

 

“Not yet, kids…. not yet….”

 

The glass table top helps to tell the backstage story of what’s going on down under…

 

This pic represents pure love.  Not thinking it’s love of Michael and I, but “pure love….”

 

I made Michael take this cheesy pic.  Thanks to wonder dog Bruno for photog duties.

 

Ok, I have to admit – Marie Callender’s rocked Thanksgiving this year

 

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Trailer: ‘The Prom’ With Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells

Meryl Streep and James Corden in ‘The Prom’ (photo: Netflix)
Netflix drops the official trailer for the upcoming screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical The Prom. The stellar cast includes Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells, Tracey Ullman, Kevin Chamberlin, Mary Kay Place, Kerry Washington, Keegan-Michael Key, Jo Ellen Pellman, and Ariana DeBose.
James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells, Meryl Streep in ‘The Prom’ (photo: Netflix)
Synopsis:

Dee Dee Allen (three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep) and Barry Glickman (Tony Award-winner James Corden) are New York City stage stars with a crisis on their hands: their expensive new Broadway show is a major flop that has suddenly flatlined their careers.

Meanwhile, in small-town Indiana, high school student Emma Nolan (newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman) is experiencing a very different kind of heartbreak: despite the support of the high school principal (Keegan-Michael Key), the head of the PTA (Kerry Washington) has banned her from attending the prom with her girlfriend, Alyssa (Ariana DeBose).

When Dee Dee and Barry decide that Emma’s predicament is the perfect cause to help resurrect their public images, they hit the road with Angie (Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman) and Trent (Andrew Rannells), another pair of cynical actors looking for a professional lift.

But when their self-absorbed celebrity activism unexpectedly backfires, the foursome finds their own lives upended as they rally to give Emma a night where she can truly celebrate who she is.

In select theaters in December and premieres on Netflix on December 11, 2020.

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Shocker: Trump Pardons Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn (photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
As I’ve predicted practically since time began, Donald Trump has pardoned former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty (twice!) to charges of lying to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat. From the New York Times:

It came to light that Mr. Flynn was lying to his colleagues about conversations he had in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak.

In the calls, Mr. Flynn urged Moscow not to escalate in response to sanctions imposed by the departing Obama administration over Russia’s covert election interference to help Mr. Trump, and raised the possibility that the incoming Trump administration would work more closely with Russia.

The pattern of lying raised new suspicions about Mr. Flynn. The F.B.I. sent agents to interview him at the White House even though deliberations with the Justice Department about whether to first tell Mr. Trump’s new White House counsel were not yet resolved.

Notes from a meeting related to that interview suggest a purpose of the interview may have been to see whether Mr. Flynn would lie again to the F.B.I. agents — as he did.

Despite Flynn pleading guilty to the eventual charges, Trump – who fired Flynn in 2017 for lying to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI about his conversation with Russia’s ambassador – continually said Flynn was “treated terribly” by the Intelligence community. As many have noted, a presidential pardon requires admitting guilt. In doing so, Flynn would lose any 5th Amendment protections regarding being called to testify on the issues. In related news, NBC News reports that prosecutors in New York City are seeking to have the state’s highest court revive mortgage fraud charges against Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. “A four-judge panel in the intermediate court ruled Oct. 22 that the DA’s office failed to demonstrate that the state charges warranted an exception to state double jeopardy protections. That echoed trial court judge Maxwell Wiley’s finding last December that the state charges against Manafort mirrored the federal case that landed him behind bars.” Expect Manafort to receive a pardon in regard to his federal case as well. A new case brought by the Manhattan DA would be exempt from Trump’s pardon powers as state charges can’t be resolved by a presidential pardon.

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Beauty And The Beast Parody Scores Bigly ‘Wear A Mask’

Riffing off of the showstopping ‘Be Our Guest’ from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Noah Lindquist’s lyrics score bigly. Performed by Lindquist and Ashley Young. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast originally penned by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.

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Rudy Giuliani Claims Trump ‘May Have Actually Won Virginia’

Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani

Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Guiliani, told Republican lawmakers at a meeting in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that – in addition to believing Donald Trump won the Keystone State (he didn’t) – Trump “may have actually won Virginia” as well. Trump lost Virginia to Joe Biden by a margin of 451,138 votes. If Team Trump had come within 1 percent of winning in Virginia, don’t you think those results would have been bandied about and challenged publicly these last few weeks??? At the end of the day, Rudy and his team did not present ANY actual evidence of vote tampering or voter fraud. But keep talking Rudy… Bloomberg reporter Josh Wingrove followed the event on Twitter here.