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Democrats Mail-In Votes Outpace Republicans In Battleground States

Michelle Obama encouraging voting by mail (photo: Jocelyn Augustino/Obama for America)

We all know Donald Trump has bad-mouthed and demonized voting by mail because Democrats tend to use the voting method more than Republicans.

Plus, with the ongoing pandemic, Dems have (in general) been more likely to embrace safety guidelines regarding the COVID-19 crisis than Repubs.

Which brings me to these tweets.

While we don’t know which presidential candidate received votes in the returned ballots, if the majority of ballots are for the party aligned with the voter, you can see why Trump has been so vocal about mail-in ballots.

As of today:

• Florida – Democrats 791,730; Republicans 450,447; No Party 287,704

• North Carolina – Democrats 238,789; Republicans 81,913; No Party 142,633

• Maine – Democrats 56,623; Republicans 16,623; No Party 18,502

• Iowa – Democrats 59,768; Republicans 23,247; No Party 12,917

• Pennsylvania – Democrats 198,448; Republicans 42,447; No party 19,448

As Amy Siskind says below, we need to build up these “cushions” because the Trumpers will show up as well.

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Iowa: Racist/Homophobe Rep. Steve King Loses Primary Bid

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)

After nine terms in the U.S. House, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) fell short in Tuesday’s Republican primary to state Sen. Randy Feenstra.

According to the New York Times, Feenstra garnered 45.7 percent of the vote while King lagged nearly ten points behind with 36 percent. The remaining candidates were in single digits.

Long-known for his anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant statements, King found himself rebuked via a House resolution after he made comments suggesting he supported white nationalism. As a result, he was stripped of all his committee assignments.

No friend to the LGBTQ community, over his years in office he virulently opposed marriage equality.

He railed against the Iowa Supreme Court when same-sex marriage became legal in Iowa in 2009. So much so that he spent $80,000 in campaign advertising against three of those justices when they were up for retention in 2010. None of the justices retained their seats.

King called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which made marriage equality the law of the land, “perverted.” He then called for a House resolution to defy the ruling.

King also introduced an amendment in 2012 seeking to ban same-sex weddings on military bases, even though the GOP-controlled House had approved of the weddings.

The 17-year veteran of Congress also argued in support of Donald Trump’s ban of transgender military service members.

But, to be clear, Mr. Feenstra is not much better on LGBTQ issues.

In 2011, he introduced a state constitutional amendment that would wipe out the 2009 state supreme court decision that legalized marriage equality in Iowa.

Feenstra also voted in favor of an appropriations measure that would prohibit the use of Iowa Medicaid dollars to pay for transgender surgeries.

Feenstra will face J.D. Scholten in November’s general election. In 2018, Scholten came close to beating King (47% – 50%) in the 2018 race for Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District

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News Round-Up: February 27, 2020

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: Handsome Ignacio Pérez Rey (above) sums up France: “Nice is NICE!” Follow the world traveler on Instagram here.

• LGBTQ Nation: A trans woman was shot at a gas station by a man shouting anti-trans epithets. But a judge ignored state law and ruled that it wasn’t a hate crime.

• KWWL: The Iowa Democratic Party announced the results of the limited-scope recount requests from the Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders campaigns. The recount process resulted in no change to the National Delegate allocation. Pete Buttigieg has 14 national delegates, Sanders has 12. As a result of the recount, county-level delegate allocation changed in 19 precincts.

• Out Music: Check out the new music video “Revival” from Broadway actor/singer Juwan Crawley (Aladdin). As a gay black man, Juwan started writing music as a response to the epidemic of police brutality towards and killings of innocent black Americans and has since used it as a platform for the values he holds dear. He continues to write music to express that which tethers us together: self-love, spirituality… and just f*cking fun.

• Gaily Grind: A disturbing cell phone video has been making the rounds on social media showing a Texas high school student viciously beating a transgender classmate.

• Pew Research: About two-thirds of Americans (66%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is, while far fewer (32%) say they like the amount of news they are getting, according to a survey of more than 12,000 U.S. adults conducted in October and November of last year.

• MSNBC: Democratic White House hopeful Mike Bloomberg tells Kasie Hunt in a new interview airing tomorrow morning on Morning Joe he intends to stay in the race “right to the bitter end.”

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Pride Flag Burner Charged With Masturbating In Front Of Prison Guards

Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)
Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)
Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)

File this under “Making a bad thing worse.”

Adolfo Martinez is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence after ripping down and burning a Pride flag flying at the Ames United Church of Christ in Ames, Iowa, last summer.

But Martinez isn’t content to simply serve his time.

The Ames Tribune reports an internal investigation reviewing jail footage found “multiple incidents where he made ‘inappropriate’ comments and performed sex acts in front of various female detention officers from Nov. 23, 2019, to Dec. 19. 2019.”

Martinez allegedly told a female guard “you smell freaking good” on November 30. Video footage from later that day showed the 30-year-old standing in the middle of his cell “performing a sex act with his pants off.”

That same night, Martinez allegedly repeated the ‘sex act’ before guards conducted a security check. During the security act, a female officer reports he sat on his bed and performed another ‘sex act’ while smiling at the guard.

According to a criminal complaint filed against Martinez the guard communicated with him over the jail’s intercom system informing him “If the behavior continued, he could be charged, to which he responded, ‘Oh, I know.’”

Adolfo Martinez (mugshot via Story County)

The Tribune notes that indecent exposure is a serious misdemeanor in Iowa. If found guilty, a judge could choose to add another year to his already considerable sentence.

Martinez admitted he committed the June flag burning crime during a television interview with local news station KCCI.

“I’m guilty, I’m guilty as charged,” he proudly announced. “I’ll say it on camera as well. Live! Let it be known. I’m guilty as charged plain and simple. Knowingly, willingly, and intentionally did I do that. Yep. It’s my honor.”

“It is a judgment and it is written to execute vengeance on the heathen and punishments upon the people… and it is my honor to do so,” he continued. “It’s a blessing from the Lord to be able to stand for his word firmly against all odds, plain and simple.”

The TV interview was played at his trial as evidence.

Martinez was found guilty of a hate crime, third-degree harassment, and reckless use of fire (arson) as a habitual offender. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison due to previous offenses.

For intoning his religious beliefs in the KCCI interview, Martinez became something of a cause celebre for Christian activists.

A Christian website, LifeSiteNews, launched a petition calling the sentence ‘excessive’ and urged the Iowa Court of Appeals to “step in and reduce this disproportionate sentence!”

We’re curious if the good Christians at LifeSiteNews will continue their unbridled support after Martinez’s latest antics.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Martinez to appear in court on February 24.

(source: Ames Tribune)

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Buttigieg On Homophobic Caucus Voter: ‘My Love Is The Same As Her Love For Those She Cares About’

Pete Buttigieg on The View

During today’s episode of The View, Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg responded to a video clip of an Iowa caucus-goer who tried to rescind her vote for him after learning he’s gay.

Hello? Where has she been?

Asked what he thought after watching the clip (“I guess she didn’t get the memo”) Buttigieg said, “I’m running to be her president, too.”

He added, “I wish she was able to see that my love is the same as her love for those that she cares about.”

Watch Mayor Pete’s remarks below.

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Buttigieg Holds Slim Lead As Iowa Results Continue To Be Released

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg holds on to a tiny lead as the remaining results of the Iowa caucuses continue to trickle in.

According to CNN, Buttigieg is currently looking to receive 26.2% of state delegates with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) right behind him with 26.1 percent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has 18.2 percent, former Vice President Joe Biden has 15.8 percent (a result he’s called ‘a gut punch’), and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sits at 12.2 percent.

Regarding the popular vote, Sanders leads with 44,753 while Buttigieg lands in second place with 42,235 votes. Warren received 34,312 votes, Biden scored 23,051 and Klobuchar remained in fifth with 20,525.

This reflects 97 percent of the votes thus far. Several media outlets have reported the long delay in finalizing the count is due, in part, to results being snail-mailed to the state Democratic party.

In light of the counting debacle in Iowa, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez is calling for a recanvass of the Monday night caucuses.

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News Round-Up: February 5, 2020

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: It is #BeefDip Bear week in Puerto Vallarta (above) and our favorite PV spot, Mantamar Beach Club, is where the action’s at.

• Advocate: Chicago man arrested for robbing Grindr dates armed with a taser.

• Epoch Times: Cute deaf dog adopts cute deaf guy #DogsRule

• The Wrap: The ratings for Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night were not boffo, down 26% from his first two SOTU addresses.

• Instinct Magazine: The man behind the March on Washington, who helped organized multiple bus boycotts, and served as a mentor/advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. has been posthumously pardoned of his anti-gay arrest charge.

• ABC News: Iowa caucus update – with 86% of precincts reporting, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg had 27% of the vote and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had 25%. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had 18%, former Vice President Joe Biden had 16% and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar had 12% of the vote.

(graphic via ABC News)
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With No Results From Iowa (Still) Candidates Go For Positive Spin

Pete Buttigieg in Iowa (screen capture)

The day after the rather inauspicious ‘first in the nation’ Iowa caucuses, there’s still no results to point to.

The app that was created for precincts to report their results failed to work, and so folks in charge attempted to phone-in results to the Democratic party powers-that-be. And the phone lines jammed.

The party says the delay is due to “inconsistencies.”

So, everyone is waiting…and waiting.

As the candidates move on to New Hampshire, Iowa loses its chance to crown an emerging victor and candidates lose their moment in the sun.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to several sources, did well but with no official tallies, they kind of got robbed of their moment.

If anything, former Vice President Joe Biden (who we hear might not have had such a great night) lucks out with the waters being so muddied.

And, folks took umbrage with Buttigieg telling his supporters “We are going on to New Hampshire victorious!”

My take is: Iowa is about setting a narrative, and so since Iowa Dems couldn’t get it done, Mayor Pete was setting his own by putting a positive spin on the night.

Let’s face it – a year ago, no one expected Pete to be ranked at the top of the competing Dems. So, if he ends up in first, second or third place in terms of Iowa, he’s certainly surprised a lot of people.

Here’s his speech to supporters last night.

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Final Iowa Poll Cancelled After Polling Mistake

L-R Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Bernie Sanders supporters, of course, believe it’s a conspiracy against a Bernie.

From USA Today:

A highly anticipated release of the Iowa Poll, one of the most respected political surveys in the nation, was canceled Saturday night  ahead of the Iowa caucuses after Pete Buttigieg’s campaign complained that his name had been omitted by a poll interviewer.

“The Iowa Poll was founded in 1943,” Carol Hunter, executive editor of the Register, said in an interview Saturday. “It’s built its reputation over many decades for accuracy, and we feel the utmost responsibility to uphold that reputation.”

CNN did an internal investigation and found that an operator had enlarged the font on their computer screen, cutting off Buttigieg’s name, which had been at the bottom.

 

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News Round-Up: January 31, 2020

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: Australia’s Coach Clayton (above) shares great legs/butt workouts on his Insta. Why? Because no one ever wrote a song about a small butt. #amiright Follow him on Instagram here.

• Press Herald: Jack Phillips, the anti-gay baker from Colorado who took his case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to avoid making a cake for a same-sex couple, just got a book deal for his story.

• KIT212: Kenneth has the what’s what in gay rags across the country including the latest issue of DNA Magazine (below).

• LA Times: Joshua Ebow, 30, was arrested in connection to a string of brutal anti-gay hate crimes in the Los Angeles area. If convicted he faces up to 14 years in prison. Ebow was charged with punching and stabbing “men who were gay or perceived to be gay.”

• USA Today: The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory amid the coronavirus outbreak. The new message is firm: “Do not travel to China.” The alert, which is a Level 4 (the highest level), cites the fact that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency as reason to suspend travel.

• Iowa: Donald Trump warned an Iowa crowd in a wild campaign speech Thursday night that global warming activists are out to “kill our cows,” and “that means you’re next.” #srsly