Tag: 2020 election

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News Round-Up: September 23, 2019

Tom Welling will resprise his role as Clark Kent in upcoming 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' crossover on 4 Arrowverse series Some news items you might have missed: • Deadline: Hunky Tom Welling (above – image via FB) will reprise his Smallville role of Clark Kent for the upcoming mega-crossover ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ on The CW. Two more former Supermen, Tyler Hoechlin and Brandon Routh, will also take part in the 5-part story arc which will unite the entire Arrowverse series franchise – Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. • The Advocate: A federal judge has ruled that an anti-LGBTQ church, D. James Kennedy Ministries based in Florida, can be labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a matter of free speech. SPLC lists the church as a hate group “because it maligns the entire LGBT community, portraying it as perverted and a threat to the nation.” • Twitter: Two of my favorite tweets today come from Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden. In the first, he congratulates Billy Porter on his historic win last night at the Emmy Awards. In the second, Joe gets his message across in a single sentence.

• Bloomberg Business: At $28 billion so far, the farm rescue is more than twice as expensive as the 2009 bailout of Detroit’s Big Three automakers, which cost taxpayers $12 billion. Plus, an August survey by Purdue University and the CME Group, 58% said farmers anticipate another round of trade aid next year. • Billboard: Streaming music continues to grow in popularity. According to Nielsen Music, there have been 505.5 billion on-demand audio streams in 2019 so far. That’s up 23% compared to the same time a year ago: 409.6 billion year-to-date through the week ending Sept. 13, 2018. • Capitol Weekly: Tracking poll in California shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) leading the current pack of Democrats in the Golden State with 29% support; Sen. Bernie Sanders is at 21% support and former Vice President Joe Biden lands in 3rd with 18% support.

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DNC Increases Debate Requirements Again

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris with former Vice President Joe Biden

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris with former Vice President Joe Biden The Democratic National Committee has upped the requirements to qualify for the November primary debates, but the jump this time isn’t as steep as the last increase. According to the New York Times candidates will need to have received donations from at least 165,000 individual donors (up from 130,000) and must meet one of two polling requirements. They must either receive 3 percent support (up from 2 percent) in four national or early-state polls conducted by qualifying pollsters, or 5 percent support in two polls in the four early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. Eligible polls must be released between September 13 and midnight seven days before the debate.

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Trump On Call With Ukraine: ‘It Was A Perfect Conversation’

Donald Trump has called his conversation with the president of Ukraine wherein he pressed the foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden, a 'perfect' conversation.

Donald Trump has called his conversation with the president of Ukraine, wherein he pressed the foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden, a 'perfect' conversation. Surrogates for Donald Trump were out this morning defending the Donald’s phone call with the president of Ukraine which the Wall Street Journal asserts Trump pressed his Ukrainian counterpart 8 times to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. Via Reuters:

Joe Biden has called on Trump to disclose the transcript of his conversation with Zelensky so “the American people can judge for themselves.”

When asked about releasing the transcript, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told ABC News that “those are private conversations between world leaders and it wouldn’t be appropriate to do so except in the most extreme circumstances.”

The intelligence community inspector general has described the whistleblower’s August 12 complaint as “serious” and “urgent,” conditions that would normally require him to forward the complaint to Congress. Trump has characterized the complaint as “just another political hack job.”

From Politico:

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Sunday that allegations that President Trump elicited dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 White House hopeful, during a phone call with Ukraine’s leader are merely speculation.

“I think things are being implied that just don’t exist,” Mnuchin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Tapper on Sunday pressed Mnuchin on why the White House is withholding information.

“Conversations with foreign leaders are supposed to be confidential,” he said, adding that it would be a “terrible” precedent to release the details. No evidence has emerged to suggest Biden acted with his son’s interests in mind in regards to his dealings with Ukraine.

Trump told reporters today that his conversation with the president of Ukraine was, of course, ‘perfect:’

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Warren Surges Past Biden In Latest Iowa Poll

Sen. Elizabeth Warren surges past former Vice President Joe Biden in latest Iowa poll

Sen. Elizabeth Warren surges past former Vice President Joe Biden in latest Iowa poll Folks are gagging over the first shakeup of the 2020 Democratic primary season as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) surges past former Vice President Joe Biden in the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa poll. From the Des Moines Register:

Warren, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, now holds a 2-percentage-point lead, with 22% of likely Democratic caucusgoers saying she is their first choice for president. It is the first time she has led in the Register’s poll.

Former Vice President Biden, who had led each of the Register’s three previous 2020 cycle polls, follows her at 20%.

Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont, has fallen to third place with 11%. No other candidate reaches double digits.

When you combine the numbers for first and second choice, Warren edges further ahead: • Warren 42% • Biden 30% • Sanders 21% • Buttigieg 18% • Harris 16%

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WSJ: Trump Pressed Ukraine President 8 Times To Investigate Biden’s Son

The Wall Street Journal (backed by ultra-conservative and Donald Trump ally Rupert Murdoch) is reporting that in a July phone call Trump “repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, urging Volodymyr Zelensky about eight times to work with Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, on a probe, according to people familiar with the matter.” Giuliani had been pressing the Ukraine government to look into any overlap with Mr. Biden’s diplomatic dealings with Ukraine, as well as Hunter Biden’s involvement in a gas company there. “He told him he should work with him [Giuliani] on Biden and that people in Washington wanted to know” whether the allegations were true or not, one of the people told the Journal. It’s stunning that, after being investigated for over two years regarding his campaign encouraging Russia to aid in his 2016 election, Trump would openly press another foreign country to become involved in smearing his possible 2020 political opponent. Last night, during an appearance on CNN, Giuliani denied – then 10 second later admitted – asking the government of Ukraine to look into Joe Biden and his son. Hillary Clinton tweeted the clip adding, “The president asked a foreign power to help him win an election. Again.”

In a Q&A in the Oval Office today, Trump told reporters “it doesn’t matter” what he discussed with the president of Ukraine. Since the story by the WSJ is behind a paywall, check out the report on the new details from CNN:

In Iowa, Biden blasted Trump’s assertion that hi

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Biden Beats Trump +14 In Latest Fox News Poll

The latest Fox News Poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden still positioned to be the most likely candidate to beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Biden leads Trump by 14 points, is the only one to garner over 50 percent support, and the only one to keep Trump under 40 percent (52-38 percent).  Sen. Bernie Sanders came in second in the survey beating Trump by 8 points (48-40). Sen. Elizabeth Warren is up by 6 points (46-40), and Sen. Kamala Harris has a 2-point edge (42-40 percent), within the poll’s error margin.

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Tune In Tonight For The Presidential Candidate Forum On LGBTQ Issues

The 2020 Democratic candidates will answer LGBTQ-specific questions tonight in Iowa at the GLAAD-sponsored #LGBTQforum

The 2020 Democratic candidates will answer LGBTQ-specific questions tonight in Iowa at the GLAAD-sponsored #LGBTQforum For the first time, the 2020 candidates will have an opportunity tonight to hear directly from LGBTQ voters to address the issues affecting our lives. GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, will co-host the first Presidential Candidate Forum on LGBTQ issues to take place during the 2020 election cycle tonight. Co-sponsored by GLAAD, One Iowa, The Gazette, and The Advocate, the LGBTQ Forum will be livestreamed on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, ABCNews.com, and NBC News from Coe College’s Sinclair Auditorium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Follow the hashtag #LGBTQForum on Twitter.

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News Round-Up: September 17, 2019

Some news items you might have missed: • KIT212: Kenneth-in-the-212’s ‘Tennis Tuesday‘ serves up some serious booty workout tips from hunky Australian trainer, Coach Clayton (above). Definitely worth the click here. • NewNowNext: The 5th season of the acclaimed sitcom Schitt’s Creek will debut on Netflix on October 10, with the sixth and final installment to drop in January. The series, heralded for its positive portrayal of LGBTQ life, is nominated for 3 Emmy Awards this weekend. It is the first Canadian sitcom to receive an Emmy nomination for Best Comedy Series. • Variety: After snagging another Emmy Award this past weekend (for her guest appearance on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Jane Lynch told reporters she and Cyndi Lauper are set to co-star in a new Netflix series that will be “a Golden Girls for today.” • The Sun: Nicole Scherzinger has accepted a reported ‘multi-million pound’ offer to rejoin her former Pussycat Dolls band mates for a 10th anniversary reunion/world tour. • Merriam-Webster: The venerable dictionary has announced a new definition for the word ‘they’ in referencing the gender identity of nonbinary people. • PBS: Longtime ABC News political reporter Cokie Roberts passed away at the age of 75 from complications due to breast cancer. She was NPR’s congressional correspondent for more than a decade beginning in 1978, and co-anchored ABC’s “This Week” from 1996 to 2002. •  Roll Call: 13 House Republicans have announced they will not be running for reelection in 2020. • TVLine: Shortly after comedian Shane Gillis was announced to join the cast of Saturday Night Live this season, footage of racist and homophobic ‘jokes’ by Gillis surfaced and SNL reversed their casting decision. Gillis initially issued one of those ‘I apologize if anyone was actually offended’ statements, but then followed up with a bitter little tweet saying he was “always a MADtv kind of guy” anyway. p.s. MADtv got cancelled, too, so…maybe he is that kind of guy.

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Mayor Pete’s Coming Out Story Takes Center Stage At Debate

As the first openly gay Democratic candidate with a credible chance at winning the White House, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, has already made a historic mark on the 2020 presidential election cycle. But at the close of the third Democratic debate last night, all ten candidates onstage were asked to relate a story of resilience from their lives. In a moment that was as poignant as it was personal, the 37-year-old shared his own coming out story.

As a military officer service under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and as an elected official in the state of Indiana when Mike Pence was governor, at a certain point, when it came to professional setbacks, I had to wonder whether just acknowledging who I was was going to be the ultimate career-ending professional setback.

I came back from the deployment and realized you only get to live one life. I was not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any longer.

So I just came out.

I had no idea what kind of professional setback it would be, especially because, inconveniently, it was an election year in my socially conservative community.

What happened was that when I trusted voters to judge me based on the job that I did for them, they decided to trust me, and reelected me with 80% of the vote.

What I learned was that trust can be reciprocated and that part of how you can win – and deserve to win – is to know what’s worth more to you than winning. And I think what’s what we need in the presidency right now: we have to know what we are about.

And this election is not about any of us up here. It is not about this president, even though it’s hard to talk of anything else some days.

It’s about the people who trust us with their lives; the kid wondering if we’re actually going to make their school safer when they’ve learned active shooter drills before they’ve learned to read; a generation wondering if we will actually get the job done on climate change.

And if we hold to that, then it doesn’t matter what happens to each of us professionally. Together, we will win a better era for our country.

While it’s not news that Buttigieg came out during his campaign for a second term as mayor, what IS news is for an openly gay presidential candidate to relate his own coming out journey to millions while standing shoulder to shoulder with his peers. Many in the Twitterverse, from LGBTQ advocates to gay veterans, acknowledged the importance of the moment:

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Trump Approval Rating Dips To 38%

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Donald Trump’s approval rating has again tanked dropping 6 points from 44% approval in the same poll in July to just 38% approval today. Fifty-sex percent of those polled disapproved of the job Trump in doing as president. While 56% of those polled approve of the current economy (down 9 points from the last poll), 60% say a recession is very or somewhat likely to occur in the next year. Additionally, 60% are concerned that the Donald’s current trade war with China will cause an increase in prices of goods Americans buy. ABC News’ Evan McMurry reports, “Trump’s average rating since taking office remains the lowest on record for any modern president at a comparable point in his term, and he is the first never to have achieved majority approval.” Also in polling news, the latest Univision News poll in Texas shows (surprisingly) that former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) all would beat Trump in hypothetical head-to-head matchups in the Lone Star state if the presidential election were held today. Sanders fared best scoring 48% support versus the Donald’s 42% estimate. The survey shows Biden would beat Trump by 4 points – 47% to 43%; and Warren would win 44% to Trump’s 42% albeit that lands within the 3 point margin of error. Trump won the state of Texas in 2016 by 9 points. A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in the Lone Star state in 25 years.