Posts

Posted on

#BeardedButtigieg Pics Go Viral

(images via Jim Fall)
Bearded pics of openly gay White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg hit the internet on Thursday and immediately went viral along with the hashtags #Bearded Buttigieg and #DaddyPete. A quartet of photos was shared by longtime New York City gay blogger kenneth-in-the-212 with the headline “Mayor Woof for President.” Kenneth added the caption, “I’ll bet the gays wouldn’t be complaining about this candidate.” Kenneth was referencing that, even though Buttigieg is the first openly gay viable candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, he hasn’t been universally embraced by the entire LGBTQ community.

Kenneth revealed they were the creative genius of Jim Fall, film director best known for the classic gay movie romp Trick and the upcoming Trick 2.

Fall told The Advocate he was inspired to beard-up Buttigieg after being “impressed with [Buttigieg’s] ability to stay cool and smart” during Wednesday night’s “fiery debate in Las Vegas.” After coming across a pic of Buttigieg with a mustache Thursday morning, Fall decided to get creative with FaceApp on his own with the former South Bend mayor’s pics. “And damn, he looks good with a full-on beard!” he told The Advocate. Falls says he doesn’t have a favorite in the Democratic primary race just yet, although he admits “both Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren have stayed at the top of my list.” There was no FaceApp time for Warren though. “Elizabeth doesn’t look so good in a beard or mustache, so I didn’t post those,” Fall added.

Fall does hope, though, that perhaps the bearded images might help some folks take a fresh look at the 38-year-old candidate. “It’s like, dang, he’s smart and sexy,” says Fall. “That’s an intoxicating combination.” “It’s amazing to me that we are living in a time where an out gay married man is a serious contender for the presidency,” explained Fall. “No matter what you feel about his specific politics, the LGBTQ community should be celebrating. I see so many gay men on social media knocking him down, and it’s disheartening.” “You don’t have to love him or even support him, but don’t disrespect him,” added the director. “Don’t eat your own.”

(source: The Advocate)

Posted on

Report Showing Russia’s Preference For Trump Gets Intel Chief Fired

Donald Trump

And now we know why Donald Trump suddenly fired his acting director of national intelligence and moved German Ambassador Richard Grenell (who has zero experience in national intelligence) to the post. From the Washington Post:

Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community’s election threats executive, participated in a classified briefing on election security last week for the House Intelligence Committee.

Pierson told the lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans — that according to the intelligence gathered by U.S. agencies, Russia had “developed a preference” for Trump in 2020, according to an official briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a classified briefing.

Following that, Trump grew angry at his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office, seeing Maguire and his staff as disloyal for speaking to Congress about Russia’s perceived preference.

The intelligence official’s analysis and Trump’s furious response ­ruined Maguire’s chances of becoming the permanent intelligence chief, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Trump says he’s considering Rep. Douglas A. Collins for permanent DNI post; Collins says he doesn’t want it

Trump announced Wednesday that he was replacing Maguire with a vocal loyalist, Richard Grenell, who is the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Posted on

Thoughts On Democratic Debate In Las Vegas

I’m late getting to this but I wanted to put out a few thoughts about last night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas. First, welcome to the debate stage billionaire and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. After spending nearly half a billion on campaign ads, he finally got on the debate stage and had to face some heat. And boy did he. Within seconds of the beginning of the date, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (who really, really needed a good night) ripped Bloomberg a new one.

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”

Warren followed that up later when the issue of women who had sued Bloomberg were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. Warren was unrelenting.

Needless to say, Warren had that ‘good night’ she was shooting for. Over the next 24 hours, she reportedly raised over $5 million for her campaign. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg landed some blows on both Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders for their ‘polarizing’ personas as well as not really being Democrats.

The other ‘big’ clashes of the evening were between Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Buttigieg. When Klobuchar was asked about a recent ‘oopsie’ in an interview when she couldn’t name the president of Mexico, Buttigieg pointed out she sits on important Senate committees that deal with Mexico. And, then Klobuchar started to unravel. I’ll admit I was surprised to see Amy get so rattled, so unnerved. In the video below, her body language and voice really hyper-up as Buttigieg remains calm. At one point, Amy offered a snarky, “I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete.” At another turn, she informed him that he hasn’t ‘been in the arena,’ apparently inferring the work mayors do isn’t important.

In reading other outlets today, I came to realize Klobuchar has a particular distaste for Buttigieg. She sees the attention he’s received and his rise in the polls as unfounded, and the result of white, male privilege. I actually have my own idea as to why Buttigieg garnered the attention he did from the start of the race. He was the new unknown. An openly gay, Rhodes scholar, Afghanistan veteran unknown who not only is well-spoken but speaks seven languages. He was a new story for folks to lean in to. Buttigieg turned in good debate performances. And did well in Iowa and New Hampshire. In any case, I think Klobuchar didn’t handle the moment well last night. She could have chosen to take a breath before responding. But, instead, she went on a rant that looked frantic. As an alternative, she could have just stated, in regard to the name of the Mexican president, “I was tired and the name slipped my mind. It happens to everyone.” And then, STOPPED TALKING. She would have served herself better, in my opinion. Along the way, as no one was attacking former Vice President Joe Biden, he had one of his best debates of the primary season. It may help him do fairly well in Nevada and then next week in South Carolina. If Biden comes in second in Nevada, then wins South Carolina, he may recover some of his momentum.

Sanders entered the debate as the newly-anointed front-runner for the nomination and nothing in the debate changed that. It’s worth noting that NBC News sent out a press release announcing the event was the most-watched Democratic debate ever, averaging nearly 20 million total viewers across the two networks, according to Nielsen Fast National Data. The one take-away I have from last night that I think is important is about ‘big-picture.’ There are four moderate Democrats currently competing for the same moderate Democratic voters. And as such, they are getting only about 12-15 percent support each. Meanwhile, Warren kind of faded after her poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire leaving the progressive lane to just Sanders. Thus, his rise in the polls. Each state’s contests divide up delegates proportionately according to the votes received. BUT – delegates are proportionately allocated to candidates getting 15% or more in a primary or caucus. If you don’t get to at least 15% you get nothing. If only one candidate gets 15%, the allocation is effectively winner-take-all. If no candidate meets the 15% threshold, Democratic Party rules state the minimum to receive delegates will be 50% of the vote received by the front-runner. Check out the delegate count below after two states’ contests. Only five candidates have earned delegates to date. Buttigieg and Sanders have nearly 3x the number of Warren or Klobuchar. According to reports, Klobuchar’s surprise third-place finish in New Hampshire was great news for her campaign, but she apparently hadn’t invested in any campaign infrastructure in Nevada having focused on Iowa and New Hampshire. So, many don’t expect her to do well this week. MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki looked at the polling in upcoming states and it looks pretty grim for many of the remaining candidates other than Bloomberg (who’s literally spending millions and millions), Biden, and Sanders. Notice that Harris and Klobuchar aren’t even registering in double-digits. And Buttigieg seems stuck at the 11-12 percent level. That means no delegates from those states if these numbers are even in the ballpark. Take a look at the California numbers. If Sanders walks away with 32% of the delegates, and Warren, Buttigieg, and Bloomberg fail to even be viable gaining zero delegates – Sanders begins to amass a delegate count that could be insurmountable. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has been spending in other states like North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Arkansas – and it’s paying off for him. Now, after last night, we’ll have to see how those numbers stack up on Super Tuesday. Finally, check this last graphic – Bloomberg is virtually the only Democrat with ads up in Virginia.   Needless to say, when you don’t win delegates, the campaign donations dry up. The next two weeks could very well boil this race down to two or three candidates. We shall see.

Posted on

Chasten Buttigieg: “I’ve Been Dealing With The Likes Of Rush Limbaugh My Entire Life”

Chasten Buttigieg (screen capture via ABC News Live)
ABC News Live will premiere its new election-cycle interview series “Running Mates” tonight during its primetime newscast at 7:00 p.m. ET Anchored by Linsey Davis, the debut will feature an exclusive interview with Chasten Buttigieg, husband of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana. In an advance clip from tonight’s interview, Davis brings up recent comments by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who suggested America is not ready to elect a “gay guy kissing his husband” on the debate stage. Questioning Buttigieg’s electability on his radio show, Limbaugh described the former Indiana mayor as “a 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage, next to ‘Mr. Man,’ Donald Trump.” Davis asks Chasten his thoughts on the remarks. “Well, look this isn’t new,” begins the 30-year-old. “I’ve been dealing with this my whole life. I’d I dealt with a multitude of Rush Limbaugh’s when I was walking through the hallways of my high school.” The potential ‘First Gentlemen’ shares that “LGBTQ Americans have to come out every single day.” “When somebody asks who were married to, or asks about your partner, or you’ll feel like you want to share something about yourself but then you have to second guess how that person’s gonna react if I say ‘Well, my husband’ instead of ‘my wife.'” explains Chasten. “I’ve been dealing with the likes of Rush Limbaugh my entire life,” he adds. “What I’m actually worried about are the young people in this country who are watching the historic nature of this campaign. Watching how people talk about it, watching how people react to it and treat it. And wondering if this country is actually safe place for them to be.”

The full interview airs tonight on streaming news channel ABC News Live. Airing two primetime news hours at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET, the streaming news channel is available on ABCNews.com, Roku, Hulu, Sling TV, Xumo, the ABC News mobile and OTT apps.

Posted on

Trump Ally Roger Stone Sentenced To 40 Months Prison Term

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday sentenced Donald Trump’s longtime friend, Roger Stone, to a 40-month prison term for obstructing a congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

From the Washington Post:

In a lengthy speech before imposing the penalty, Jackson seemed to take aim at Trump, saying that Stone “was not prosecuted for standing up for the president; he was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” She also appeared to call out Attorney General William P. Barr, whose intervention to reduce career prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation she called “unprecedented.” But she said the politics surrounding the case had not influenced her final decision.

Jackson made clear she thought Stone’s crimes were serious. She called his testimony “plainly false” and “a flat-out lie” and said his misdirection “shut out important avenues” for Congress to investigate. The judge said Stone knew “it could reflect badly on the president if someone learned” about his efforts to obtain damaging information from the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks about Clinton, who was then running against Trump for president.

Prosecutors said the longtime GOP operative lied during testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017 to conceal his central role in the Trump campaign’s efforts to learn about computer files hacked by Russia and made public by WikiLeaks. Stone also threatened a witness who was an associate of his in an attempt to prevent the man from cooperating with lawmakers.

In addition to the prison time, Judge Jackson ordered Stone to pay a $20,000 fine, do community service and submit to substance abuse testing.

Stone was convicted on all seven counts of lying to Congress and tampering with a witness by a jury last November. He is the sixth Trump associate convicted of crimes discovered by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation.

I continue to believe Trump will pardon Stone sometime in the near future.

Posted on

History: Beshear Becomes 1st Kentucky Governor To Attend LGBTQ Rally

Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky (screen capture)
Governor Andy Beshear became the first Kentucky governor to attend the annual LGBTQ Fairness Rally on Wednesday. The Democrat defeated virulently anti-LGBTQ Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in November. Amid rainbow flags and loud cheers from the crowd, Beshear told attendees, “Diversity and inclusion, they aren’t buzz words – they are values.” “And they are keys to making Kentucky stronger,” continued Beshear. “Kentucky cannot reach its full potential if all of our people don’t feel supported to be themselves.” Speaking in the Rotunda at the State Capitol in Frankfort, the governor also spoke in support of two legislative proposals vital to LGBTQ Kentuckians, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader. One, a ‘statewide fairness’ measure that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. “Discrimination against our LGBTQ brothers and sisters is absolutely unacceptable in this commonwealth,” said Beshear.

While 18 communities in Kentucky have ‘fairness ordinances,’ there are no statewide protections for LGBTQ people in the Bluegrass state. He also endorsed a legislative ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ the harmful practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Also known as ‘ex-gay therapy,’ the pseudo-science has been denounced by nearly all major medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, called Beshear’s appearance politically courageous, reports the local ABC News affiliate 6News. “To have support in the highest office in the commonwealth of Kentucky is so meaningful for so many LGBTQ people who have never felt seen by lawmakers who can make a difference,” said Hartman. When asked about his historic appearance at the event, Beshear dismissed the question saying, “I think it took too long. Under this administration, every single Kentuckian counts.” (Source: Lexington Herald-Leader)

Posted on

Rohrabacher Confirms He Spoke To Assange About Pardon

Former GOP congressman Dana Rohrabacher
In a new interview with Yahoo News, former California Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher confirmed that he did speak to Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2017 about turning over information that could prove the widely-debunked conspiracy theory that Russians did not hack the Democratic National Committee emails. In exchange, Rohrabacher promised to approach Donald Trump about a pardon for Assange.

In a phone interview with Yahoo News, Rohrabacher said his goal during the meeting was to find proof for a widely debunked conspiracy theory: that WikiLeaks’ real source for the DNC emails was not Russian intelligence agents, as U.S. officials have since concluded, but former DNC staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered on the streets of Washington in July 2016 in what police believe was a botched robbery.

A lawyer for Assange in London on Wednesday cited the pardon offer from Rohrabacher during a court hearing on the U.S. government’s request to extradite the WikiLeaks founder.

Rohrabacher said that not only did talk of a Trump pardon take place during his meeting, but he also followed up by calling then-White House chief of staff John Kelly to discuss the proposal. He did not, however, ever speak to Trump about it, he said.

Rohrabacher, who lost reelection to his House seat in 2018, has been a longtime defender of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Law enforcement officials had long said they’ve found no evidence that Rich’s death was related to his work at the DNC or that he played any role in the leaking of party emails.

Posted on

News Round-Up: February 19, 2020

(image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: For Wise Wednesday, hunky Dan Tai reminds: “Don’t forget you are the lighthouse in someone’s storm.” Follow him on Instagram here. • USA Today: Bernie Sanders said Tuesday night that he is not planning to release any additional medical records. Sanders, 78, suffered a heart attack in October during a campaign event. He had a blockage in one artery and two stents were inserted, his campaign said at the time. • NY Times: Donald Trump is expected to name Richard Grenell, the American ambassador to Germany, to be the acting director of national intelligence. A vocal Trump loyalist, he would be the first openly gay cabinet member. • Washington Blade: Actor Haaz Sleimann, who is openly gay, was speaking to LGBTQ media outlet NewNowNext for a profile story when he revealed that he will be portraying the husband of a gay superhero in the upcoming Marvel film, The Eternals, slated for a November 2020 release. Sleimann, 43, has recently garnered attention for his role as a gay Syrian refugee in Apple+ TV’s anthology series “Little America.” • NBC News: Don’t forget the Democratic debate tonight from Las Vegas where former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg will take to the debate stage for the first time in the 2020 primary cycle. The debate will start at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET). You can watch the debate on NBC, MSNBC, and Universo. You can also stream it on NBCNews.com and MSNBC.com, as well as their Facebook pages – or the video window below.

Posted on

Ellen Weighs In On The ‘Great Recline’ Debate

Ellen DeGeneres weighed in today on the “Great Recline” debate. You may have heard about a video that recently went viral of a man punching the back of a woman’s chair on an airplane because she reclined her seat. Social media began debating over the controversy over whether passengers should do this or not. Ellen gave her opinion on the debate and reminded everyone of what she says at the end of every episode: “Recline to one another.”

I’m going to offer my opinion here. I think it totally sucks that the man was stuck in the last row and his seat didn’t recline and he had very limited space. As mentioned in the video above, he asked the woman in front of him to raise her seat up while he ate, and she did. The problem came about after he finished eating and she reclined again. I’m claustrophobic. That said, I spent years getting on a plane every week while traveling with the touring companies of Broadway musicals. Since all our tickets were bought as a big group of 30-40 people, I learned I had to plan ahead to avoid being in a situation like this. I would get to the airport early and try to change my seat assignment if I could. Once or twice, it was unavoidable. I would beseech the passengers around me to consider my plight. Often, someone would take pity on me. Other times, I had to tough it out. I would order drinks and close my eyes and meditate and wait for the flight to be over. I think people purchase their seats with the knowledge that practically all of them recline. To me, you’re paying for that. I repeat that I think it sucked the man was in the position he was in, but as an adult, he could have found a different way to cope.

Posted on

Buttigieg To Limbaugh: My Marriage Has Never Involved “Hush Money” To Porn Stars

During last night’s CNN Town Hall event, Pete Buttigieg’s response to recent comments by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh about his sexual orientation earned him the biggest applause of the night. Last week, Limbaugh asked his listeners if they could imagine Donald Trump “having fun” with the idea of Buttigieg kissing his husband, Chasten, after a debate. He added that “America’s still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage.” Rushbo’s stance seemed to be that Democrats were uncomfortable with the idea of Pete and Chasten exchanging PDAs. Note – it’s very common for candidates to hug/kiss their spouses after a debate event. Why a hug between the Buttigiegs would be ‘too much’ isn’t quite clear. Limbaugh also wondered aloud how parents would “explain” Buttigieg kissing his husband to their children. This point became an instant meme with folks referencing Donald Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood statement: “How do you explain ‘Grab’em by the p*ssy’ to your children?” The next day, Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera asked Trump about Limbaugh’s comments. Trump said that he could see Americans voting for an openly gay candidate. “There would be a group that probably wouldn’t, but you or I wouldn’t be in that group.” On Sunday, during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash asked Buttigieg to respond to Limbaugh’s remarks. “Well, I love my husband. I’m faithful to my husband. Onstage, we usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much,” Buttigieg said. “And I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”

Fast forward to last night’s event on CNN, Erin Burnett asked Buttigieg about the comments from Limbaugh (who’s been married four times) and Trump (who’s been married three times): “Publicly, Trump says he would not have a problem supporting a gay candidate? Do you take him at his word?” “Not if he’s sending out his supporters to talk in this way,” answered Buttigieg. “The idea of the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Donald Trump lecturing anybody on family values?” “I’m sorry, but one thing about my marriage is it’s never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse.” #BOOM #HugeApplause “So if they want to debate family values, let’s debate family values, I’m ready,” added the former mayor.

Six of the Democratic candidates, including Buttigieg, will take to the debate stage tonight in Las Vegas in advance of Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. The debate will be broadcast live on NBC News, MSNBC and Universo (in Spanish) beginning at 9 p.m. ET.