Tag: Donald Trump

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News Round-Up: June 25, 2021

Out singer/songwriter KENTÖ

Out singer/songwriter KENTÖ
Out singer/songwriter KENTÖ
Some news items you might have missed: • Nevada Independent: After receiving a cancer diagnosis in March 2020, Shawn Dixon decided she would organize the first-ever Pride parade in her small town of less than 8,000 residents. Her dream of “years and years” will become a reality in Winnemucca, Nevada, on July 16 & 17. • Reuters: Respect LGBT rights or leave the European Union, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told his Hungarian counterpart as the bloc’s leaders confronted Viktor Orban over a law that bans schools from using materials seen as promoting homosexuality. • Instinct Magazine: The valedictorian of a New Jersey high school was almost censored and silenced during his graduation speech by his principal when he began to touch on mental health and his sexuality. But thankfully, the student’s memorization skills saved the day.  

• New York Times: The Manhattan district attorney’s office has informed Donald Trump’s lawyers that criminal charges against his family business, the Trump Organization, in connection with fringe benefits the company awarded its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, could be announced as soon as next week. • Justice Dept: Michael Atkinson, 28, Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, 21, and Daryl Henry, 24, were sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in targeting gay men for violent crimes. The sentences ranged from 11-22 years for luring five men (using the Grindr dating app) to a vacant apartment in Dallas where they held the men at gunpoint, kidnapped, carjacked, and assaulted them. • Out Music: I recently shared the latest from out singer/songwriter Kentö, and today the artist (top photo) drops the official music video for the single, “Silhouette.” “Silhouette” is the first single from Kentö’s upcoming album release, Strangers, slated for release later this year. Kentö shares, “I feel like I’m finally making music that is really expressing the sounds that have been in my head all along.” https://youtu.be/fVUuXa2UHGw

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News Round-Up: June 24, 2021

Bruno the wonder dog

Bruno the wonder dog Some news items you might have missed: • TBT: As I get to spend more afternoons at the cement pond these days, I do miss my bestie Bruno (above) who always made the sunshine that much brighter. Not sad – happy he happened 🙂 • The Hill: A new study shows 52% percent of LGBTQ adults say that someone had threatened them with violence since they were age 18. Sixty-seven percent of LBQ cisgender women, 75 percent of GBQ cis men and 70 percent of transgender people said they had been bullied often or sometimes before age 18. • Pink News: The crowd erupted into cheers at Wednesday evening’s football match between Hungary and Germany when a supporter ran out onto the pitch with a Pride flag as the Hungarian national anthem played. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQgWxFmL0DZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • USA Today: Missouri is becoming a cautionary COVID tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated. Intensive care beds are filling up with surprisingly young, unvaccinated patients. • CNN: In the new book, Frankly We Did Win This Election, Michael Bender of the Wall Street Journal reports that Donald Trump would highlight videos that showed law enforcement getting physical with protesters and say, “That’s how you’re supposed to handle these people. Crack their skulls!” Trump also told his team that he wanted the military to go in and “beat the f–k out” of the civil rights protesters. • ABC News: President Biden and a bipartisan group of senators on Thursday announced they had reached a framework $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal after a White House meeting. Biden emphasized that it all comes “without raising a cent from earners below $400,000.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CQhQirxL22S/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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New Book: Trump Considered Quarantining Americans At Guantánamo

Donald Trump
A new book by Washington Post reporters Damian Paletta and Yasmeen Abutaleb, Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History, sheds new light on the incredible dysfunction in the Trump White House regarding the bungled COVID-19 response. From the Washington Post:

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as White House officials debated whether to bring infected Americans home for care, President Donald Trump suggested his own plan for where to send them, eager to suppress the numbers on U.S. soil.

“Don’t we have an island that we own?” the president reportedly asked those assembled in the Situation Room in February 2020, before the U.S. outbreak would explode. “What about Guantánamo?”

“We import goods,” Trump specified, lecturing his staff. “We are not going to import a virus.”

Aides were stunned, and when Trump brought it up a second time, they quickly scuttled the idea, worried about a backlash over quarantining American tourists on the same Caribbean base where the United States holds terrorism suspects.

The book is based on interviews with over 180 people including White House senior staff members and government health officials.

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Poll: Trust In U.S. President Soars Under Biden In Global Survey

L-R Donald Trump, President Joe Biden
As Joe Biden takes his first trip abroad as president, he has told the world “America is back.” And according to a new global survey by Pew Research Center, the world agrees. From the Washington Post:

Trust in the U.S. president fell to historic lows in most countries surveyed during Donald Trump’s presidency, according to Pew.

Under Biden, it has soared. In the 12 countries surveyed both this year and last, a median of 75 percent of respondents expressed confidence in Biden to “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” Pew found, compared with 17 percent for Trump last year. Sixty-two percent of respondents now have a favorable view of the United States vs. 34 percent at the end of Trump’s presidency.

“The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image,” the Pew report reads.

Additionally, the survey shows the favorability rating for the U.S. grew 23 percentage points from last year in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

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Trump Calls On Countries To Ban Twitter And Facebook

Donald Trump

Donald Trump issued a statement today praising the nation of Nigeria (which he once called a ‘shit hole’) for banning Twitter after the social media company banned the country’s president. In the same breath he called on more countries to ban both Twitter and Facebook because he’s still butt hurt over being banned from the platforms. His current bans are a result of his being held accountable for the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. Apparently still inhabiting Earth 2, Trump ponders if he should have banned the two social media platforms while in the White House – except, of course, he didn’t have that power.

Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech—all voices should be heard.

In the meantime, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil?

Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?

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News Round-Up: June 3, 2021

Initial unemployment claims dropped below 400K for the first time since pandemic began

Initial unemployment claims dropped below 400K for the first time since pandemic began Some news items you might have missed: • CNBC: The labor market continues to improve as initial jobless claims fell to 385,000 last week. The last time claims were lower was the week of March 14, 2020, with 256,000. The number spiked to nearly 3 million the following week and peaked at more than 6.1 million in early April as governments across the U.S. shut down businesses in an effort to slow the coronavirus spread. • Instinct Magazine: In honor of Pride month, the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will stream for one week only Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City The Musical. The 2011 show will stream at Broadway On Demand’s National Theater Network. • Edge Media: A viral video about a 73-year-old man coming out and being celebrated by his neighbor has taken the internet by storm. “My dad’s neighbour just came out as gay at 73!” reads the video’s caption. “His family aren’t supportive. So Dad did this to show him he is not alone.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CPlDYz8DR0e/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • Washington Post: U.S. prosecutors this week put a price tag for the first time on damage to the U.S. Capitol from the Jan. 6 breach — $1.5 million so far — and are asking defendants to cover some of that in plea offers. Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington are seeking to require restitution of $2,000 in each felony case and $500 in each misdemeanor case. • Delusional: Writing for the National Review, Charles Cooke reports, “Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he — along with former senators David Perdue and Martha McSally — will be ‘reinstated’ to office this summer after “audits” of the 2020 elections in Arizona, Georgia, and a handful of other states have been completed. • Twitter: The U.S. Embassy at the Vatican is flying the rainbow flag for Pride Month and a host of Republican politicians, religious right leaders, and far right media figures are losing their minds that the government would promote tolerance.

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News Round-Up: June 2, 2021

Anthony Varrecchia (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Artist and fitness professional Anthony Varrecchia (above) does the honors in heading up this Hump Day round-up all the way from Key West where he’s enjoying the mood at Island House. Follow him on Instagram here. #woof • HuffPost: On the first day of Pride Month 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill barring transgender females from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls, plunging the state into the national culture war over transgender rights. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Our veteran NYC-based blogger puts the spotlight on this oh-so-adorbs veterinarian in his ‘Morning Wood’ feature. https://www.instagram.com/p/CNaW43HhWnX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • Yahoo News: Democrat Melanie Stansbury defeated her Republican opponent Mark Moores in the special election to represent New Mexico’s 1st congressional district, a House seat vacated when Deb Haaland was confirmed as President Biden’s Interior secretary. • Politico: The firm that owns the National Enquirer has agreed to pay $187,500 to the Federal Election Commission to settle complaints that it unlawfully aided Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 by suppressing the story of an actress who said she had a sexual relationship with Trump. • The Daily Beast: Donald Trump’s blog – “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” – was met with a collective shrug from the public, and is being shut down after just 29 days. Senior Trump aide Jason Miller says the blog has been scuttled and “will not be returning.”

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Giuliani: ‘No Reasonable Listener’ Would Have Taken ‘Trial By Combat’ Speech Literally

Rudy Giuliani at Trump press conference (screen capture)
Responding to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) that alleges the incitement of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, Rudy Giuliani says his speech to Trump supporters to engage in ‘trial by combat’ was “clearly” hyperbole. From the New York Daily News:

President Trump’s former personal lawyer Thursday asserted his fiery speech was “clearly hyperbolic” and claims that “no reasonable listener” would take it literally, even though that’s exactly what the violent crowd of thousands did.

“The statement was clearly hyperbolic and not literal,” the filing said. “And even if it were to be perceived literally, Giuliani was clearly referring to an event in the future after evidence of election fraud is collected.”

CNBC also reports on a second lawsuit brought by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and 10 other House Democrats, which accuses Giuliani, Donald Trump, and extremist groups the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and Warboys, of violating the federal Ku Klux Klan Act on Jan. 6 by firing up the MAGA cultists to stop Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Separate motions to dismiss the suit on Thursday argued that Trump’s and Giuliani’s remarks at a pre-riot rally near the Capitol were protected under the First Amendment. Trump and Giuliani have asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit saying they were just exercising free speech.

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Grand Jury Convened To Consider Indictments Against Trump

Donald Trump
The New York City prosecutor overseeing a criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s business practices before he became president has convened a grand jury to consider evidence. From the Washington Post:

Manhattan’s district attorney has convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges, according to two people familiar with the development.

The move indicates that District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s investigation of the former president and his business has reached an advanced stage after more than two years. It suggests, too, that Vance believes he has found evidence of a crime — if not by Trump then by someone potentially close to him or by his company.

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Survey: 54% Of Republicans Believe Capitol Invasion Was “Led By Left-Wingers To Make Trump Look Bad”

A new survey from Ipsos Polls shows 54% of Republican respondents believe the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building was “led by violent left-wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad.” I’m guessing those are the same people who believe the COVID-19 pandemic was all staged to “make Trump look bad.” You have to wonder if those conservatives are genuinely delusional or if they just decided to lie to pollsters? More from the poll: • 59% of all respondents feel Donald Trump should not run for president again, only 31% support his running again • 33% feel Trump was not responsible for the Capitol riot while 58% believe he bears some responsibility • 30% of Republicans feel confident that absentee or mail-in ballots were accurately counted, compared to 86% of Democrats and 55% of independents Check out the full results of the survey here.

(h/t JoeMyGod)