Tag: Nevada

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Long Lines Of Patient Dems On Day One Of Nevada Caucus

I’ve been a bit slow to post today as I took part in the early caucusing here in Las Vegas. I thought, since it was an early day, it would be a quick ‘in and out’ kind of thing. Boy, was I wrong. The line was out the door of my local YMCA where I caucused. It eventually took nearly two hours to cast my vote. Speaking to a volunteer, the process that had been planned for months was scrapped after the Iowa caucus debacle. So, folks in charge were scrambling a bit to come up with a workable solution. Adding to that were the longer than anticipated lines. There’s definitely enthusiasm on the ground here in Nevada. Once I finally got up to the front, I was given my ballot and told I was required to list my top three choices in order, just in case my top choice didn’t get enough votes come caucus day. You had the option of listing your top five if you felt like it. As you passed people calmly standing in line, you heard the same thing over and over again: ‘Just as long as HE’s not in the White House after this election.’ Standing in line, I can say the conversations I had with the friendly folks around me tended to lean to Biden and Buttigieg. The latest poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Sen. Bernie Sanders in the lead with 25 percent support followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 18 percent support. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts pulled 13 percent support, businessman Tom Steyer drew 11 percent, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg got 10 percent support and Sen. Amy Klobuchar garnered 10 percent support.

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Pete Buttigieg Endorsed By Equality California And Silver State Equality

Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, and its Nevada-based affiliate Silver State Equality announced their endorsement of Mayor Pete Buttigieg for President of the United States on Thursday. The decision was reached unanimously by the groups’ joint presidential endorsement committee following a lengthy process that included a detailed questionnaire, thorough evaluation of the candidates’ viability and policy positions, staff engagement and interviews with the candidates.

“From his comprehensive plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030 to his commitment to make our schools safe and supportive for LGBTQ students to his specific funding and policy priorities to protect and empower the transgender community — especially transgender women of color, who face an epidemic of violence and persecution — Mayor Pete Buttigieg has the boldest, most comprehensive agenda to achieve full, lived equality for all LGBTQ people of any presidential candidate in the nation’s history. “While we did not endorse Mayor Pete simply because he’s gay, the historic nature of his candidacy has already had a transformational impact on the LGBTQ community. Electing the first openly LGBTQ president will send a message to millions of LGBTQ youth across the country that no dreams are too big and no leadership position is too high.

For the first time, California’s primary will be held on Super Tuesday in March, and California voters will begin casting mail-in ballots on Monday, February 3, the same day as the Iowa Caucus. The 2020 Nevada Caucus will be held on Saturday, February 22. (via press release)

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South Carolina & Nevada Polls Show Two Different Races

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 The first polls from CNN/SRSS on the upcoming South Carolina Democratic primary and the Nevada Democratic caucuses show two very different races. In South Carolina, former Vice President Joe Biden is miles ahead of everyone. Biden garners 37 percent support compared to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 16 percent support. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pulled 11 percent support, and no other candidate got above 5 percent. But in Nevada, it’s Biden and Sanders neck-and-neck with 22 percent, and Warren at 18% among likely Democratic caucus-goers. No one else received more than 5 percent in Nevada.

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First House Republican Announces Support For Impeachment Inquiry

GOP Rep. Mark Amodei is first House Republican to support impeachment inquiry

GOP Rep. Mark Amodei is first House Republican to support impeachment inquiry Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) is the first GOP member of Congress to openly support the House’s impeachment inquiry. From the Nevada Independent:

“Let’s put it through the process and see what happens,” Amodei, the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, said on a call Friday with reporters, adding that he believes Congress is justified to look into the matter. 

“I’m a big fan of oversight, so let’s let the committees get to work and see where it goes,” he added.  (An audio recording of the call has been posted below.)

“Using government agencies to, if it’s proven, to put your finger on the scale of an election, I don’t think that’s right,” he continued. “If it turns out that it’s something along those lines, then there’s a problem.”

Amodei issued a statement after the call underscoring his support for the process moving forward and dispelling any impression that he currently backs voting to impeach the president.

“In no way, shape, or form, did I indicate support for impeachment,” Amodei said of the call.

Amodei declined to say whether he believes Trump committed an impeachable offense, though he noted that his comments in the call were regrettable.

“If it was my statement and I had the ability to do it over, I would probably phrase it differently,” he said. “I don’t know that it’s a smoking gun.”

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Nevada & Iowa Will Offer Tele-Caucus Option In 2020

Living in Nevada for 15 years, I’ve been quite vocal about my criticism of the caucus system.

This might help up involvement.

From the AP:

Democrats in the early presidential contest states of Iowa and Nevada will be able to cast their votes over the telephone instead of showing up at their states’ traditional neighborhood caucus meetings next February, according to plans unveiled by the state parties.

The tele-caucus systems, the result of a mandate from the Democratic National Committee, are aimed at opening the local-level political gatherings to more people, especially evening shift-workers and people with disabilities, whom critics of the caucuses have long said are blocked from the process.

The changes are expected to boost voter participation across the board, presenting a new opportunity for the Democratic Party’s 2020 candidates to drive up support in the crucial early voting states.

In the last presidential election cycle, my neighborhood’s caucus was held on a Saturday morning. If you didn’t attend, you didn’t get to weigh in with your choice for Democratic nominee.

If you had to work, too bad. If you had to take care of the kids’ weekend activities, too bad. No other options were available.

Plus, it was a bit of a mad house, and it took over two hours.

And, some campaign supporters can be pretty suppressive. The guy below was at my caucus representing Bernie Sanders in 2016.

He claimed he was there to make sure there weren’t ‘irregularities.’ Instead, he was something of a bully stepping in and interfereing a few times.

Gee, can you imagine why some folks don’t bother to be involved? I really wish we would just have a primary over several days like we do other elections.

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Nevada: Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Award Electoral Votes To Winner Of Popular Vote

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak

The Nevada Independent reports that Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has vetoed a bill that would have pledged the Silver State’s six electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote for president.

AB186 proved a divisive one in the Legislature that elicited some of the closest votes in the session. Proponents argued that it would ensure every vote counted equally, while opponents said they feared it would diminish the relevance of Nevada and other small states.

If approved, the bill would have tied Nevada to a compact of states agreeing to pledge their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, but would only take effect until enough states had joined the compact to eclipse the 270 electoral vote threshold.

So far, 15 states with a total of 189 electoral votes have joined the compact, with Colorado, Delaware and New Mexico approving laws to join the initiative.

While I’m a proud Nevadan, I’m disappointed in Sisolak’s veto.

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Podcast: Equality Act, Gay Panic Defense Banned, Rocketman Premieres At Cannes

In this week’s podcast: • The Equality Act passes in the House of Representatives • Nevada bans the gay panic defense • An Australian rugby player loses his $4 million contract thanks to homophobic social media posts • FX's groundbreaking series POSE honored at the Peabody Awards • The Elton John ‘musical fantasy biopic’ Rocketman premieres at the Cannes Film Festival All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

In this week’s podcast:

• The Equality Act passes in the House of Representatives

• Nevada bans the gay panic defense

• An Australian rugby player loses his $4 million contract thanks to homophobic social media posts

• FX’s groundbreaking series POSE honored at the Peabody Awards

• The Elton John ‘musical fantasy biopic’ Rocketman premieres at the Cannes Film Festival

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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News Round-Up: May 17, 2019

Ryan Worley (photo: Vinnie Cassidy)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk and Chippendale Ryan Worley (above) shares this with the caption, “When you didn’t know someone was taking your photo…” I’m thinking Mr. Worley should get used to folks taking his pic a lot.

• In an interview with Fox News, Democratic White House hopeful (and openly gay) Mayor Pete Buttigieg references the current president saying, “I’m old enough to remember when Republicans talked a lot about character in the Oval Office.”

• Nevada has become the fourth state to ban the use of so-called gay and trans panic defenses, following California, Rhode Island and Illinois.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) grilled Daniel O’Day, the CEO of Gilead Sciences, over the high costs of the pharmaceutical company’s pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication Truvada.

As she correctly points out, Gilead is making billions a year from Truvada, but the core research for PrEP was paid for and done by the U.S. government. Watch AOC push for a decent answer:

• Following Alabama lawmakers, the Missouri House of Representatives has passed an anti-abortion bill that bans abortions after eight weeks into a pregnancy, and does not have an exception for victims of rape or incest.

• E! Online reports that Queer Eye co-stars Karamo Brown and Antoni Porowski had “an extreme amount of conflict” during the shooting of Season One of the Bravo series.

• Check out the first look trailer for the upcoming new super-hero series, Batwoman, on the CW this fall on Sundays. Australian actress Ruby Rose stars as the openly lesbian crime fighter.

Almost two millions views on YouTube in a day. But the like/dislike ratio is something to see – 87k thumbs down (homophobes) versus 36k thumbs up.

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News Round-Up: April 22, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• This is how InstaHunk Ignacio Pérez Rey welcomed his Monday in Madrid. Who else was excited for the new week?

• After a South Carolina family’s Pride flag was found ripped down and burned, neighbors began flying rainbow flags in solidarity.

• Rumors have surfaced that Kevin Hunter, husband for 22 years to Wendy Williams, had an ongoing sexual relationship with R&B singer Aveon Falstar during his marriage to Williams.

• A new University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll shows Sen. Bernie Sanders getting 30% support of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s expected to announce his White House bid this week, came in at 18%, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 15%.

• Nevada is now the 10th US state to allow gender-neutral markers on identification documents. Residents can now choose ‘x’ in addition to’ for male and ‘f’ for female on drivers licenses and birth certificates.

• Randy Report favorite Pink drops the lyric video for the title track of her upcoming album, Hurts 2B Human, featuring Khalid.

The new collection, the pop icon’s 8th studio album, will be released Friday, April 26.

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Nevada State Senate Approves Ban On ‘Gay Panic’ Legal Defense

Nevada could soon be the fourth state in the country to ban the use of so-called ‘gay panic’ or ‘transgender panic’ legal defenses.

Nevada could soon be the fourth state in the country to ban the use of so-called ‘gay panic’ or ‘transgender panic’ legal defenses.

The bill, SB 97, passed in the state Senate by a vote of 19 – 2. State Sens. Ira Hansen and Pete Goicoechea, both Republicans, were the only lawmakers to vote no.

The legislation now moves to the state Assembly where Democrats outnumber Republicans 29 – 13.

The new legislation would ban legal defenses that argue an alleged criminal’s violent actions were justified or provoked by the knowledge of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The defense tactic asks juries to blame the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity for the defendant’s alleged violent crimes.

Language in SB 97 specifically states that “an alleged state of passion or provocation” in a defendant will not be considered a valid defense “if it resulted from… [the] sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of the victim.”

According to the Williams Institute, successful use of the defense can result in murder charges being reduced to manslaughter or other lesser offenses.

The Nevada Current reports that the legislation has the support of the Human Rights Campaign, the Transgender Allies Group, PLAN Votes, Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, as well as other LGBTQ organizations.

Only three states – California, Illinois and Rhode Island – have laws in place today that specifically prohibit the use of the defense.

There is similar legislation currently working its way through six states – New Jersey, Washington State, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania – as well as Washington, D.C.

Perhaps the most well-known case that used a ‘gay panic’ defense was that of Matthew Shepard, who was beaten to death and left to die tied to a fence on a cold Wyoming night. The two men charged with his murder said ‘gay panic’ excused their actions.

In 2013, the American Bar Association overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for an end to the defense.