LGBTQ news and entertainment
During an interview with Norah O’Donnell on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Donald Trump admitted he doesn’t know who Changpeng Zhao is — the cryptocurrency billionaire he pardoned last month with ties to the first family’s own crypto venture. Continue reading “Trump On Crypto Exec Pardon – ‘I Have No Idea Who He Is’”
Donald Trump has pardoned convicted crypto executive Changpeng Zhao, who founded the Binance crypto exchange.
Note – the Trump family’s own crypto venture, which has generated about $4.5 billion since the 2024 election, has been working with a trading platform quietly administered by Binance, according to the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading “Trump Pardons Exec Who Boosted Trump Family Crypto”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks to reporters (screen capture)
Six years later, with the now-congressman accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and sharing photographs of nude women with fellow lawmakers, the sponsor of the Florida legislation says Gaetz opposed it because he believed recipients of such images could use them however they wanted.
Tom Goodson, a Republican who retired from the Florida state House in 2018, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that Gaetz was the leading opponent of the nonconsensual pornography bill he spent years trying to pass.
He described a meeting in which Gaetz said that if a person gives an intimate photo to a romantic partner, the image becomes the property of the recipient.
Read the full article here. In related news, Donald Trump dispatched a quick missive today saying reports that Gaetz had sought an all-inclusive blanket pardon from the Donald during his last days in office are inaccurate. It’s important to note that Trump says “Gaetz never asked me for a pardon.” The reporting is that Gaetz “privately asked the White House for blanket pre-emptive pardons.” The Trumpster added, “It must also be remembered that he has totally denied the accusations against him.” 
Michael Henry is down about Valentine’s Day (screen capture)
• Boy Culture: Matt Rettenmund remembers Larry Flynt, the controversial publisher of Hustler Magazine who championed free speech (smutty or not). Flynt died today due to heart failure at the age of 78. • The Daily Beast: During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday Twitter’s CFO Ned Segal told viewers that Donald Trump will never be allowed on the social media platform. • The Atlantic: Soon after the November election, a business colleague of Donald Trump’s close ally Corey Lewandowski offered a whistleblower and convicted ex-banker an expensive deal: In exchange for a $300,000 fee up front—plus another $1 million if successful—the two men would push the then-president for a pardon. • HBO Max: Check out the trailer for the new HBO documentary There Is No ‘I’ In Threesome premiering on February 11. Ollie Lucks is the director of the new doc film that explores his bisexual, polyamorous identity alongside his girlfriend Zoe. Hoping to expand their sexual horizons, the couple decided to open up their relationship before getting hitched.
L-R Actor/model Nyle DiMarco and President-elect Joe Biden (image via Instagram)
• CNN: Donald Trump has reportedly been talked out of issuing presidential pardons for himself and his family as well as certain Republican lawmakers said to be nervous about their legal vulnerability for their part in the U.S. Capitol insurrection. • The Hill: From Trump’s inauguration day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from 19,827 to 30,930 on Tuesday, a 56 percent increase. That increase is below the 73.2 percent rise the Dow saw in Obama’s first term, or the 105.8 percent increase under Clinton’s first term. A similar trend was true for the S&P 500, which gained 67.8 percent under Trump. It gained 84.5 percent in Obama’s first term, and 79.2 percent in Clinton’s first term. • LA Times: The 232-bed Vignes Street development has shattered the axiom that homeless housing takes years to build and is exorbitantly expensive. From start to finish in under five months and at a cost of about $200,000 per bed, it has shaved years and hundreds of thousands of dollars off a traditional homeless housing project. • White House: Donald Trump issued a pre-recorded farewell address today. #ByeGurl
Donald Trump (screen capture)
Two-thirds approve of how Pres.-elect Joe Biden has handled his transition, new @ABC News/WaPo poll finds. That’s 27 points more than said so of Donald Trump four years ago, though it trails other recent presidents. https://t.co/6Nnxu7rAed pic.twitter.com/kJoFHmBRwf
— ABC News (@ABC) January 17, 2021
There’s a lot to be said for showing compassion and empathy regardless of whether you agree with all his policies
— Albert Fong (@albertfong98) January 17, 2021
No shit. He had to deal with #donaldtrumps uncooperative tantrums and his administration standing by his lies. Yes @JoeBiden has handled this well, very well.
— McFly- Lover of the Dodgers (@myr0713) January 17, 2021
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
“There are a lot of people urging the president to pardon folks who participated in defiling the Capitol, the rioters.
“I don’t care if you went there and spread flowers on the floor, you breached the security of the Capitol, you interrupted a joint session of Congress. You tried to intimidate, assault, you should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and to seek a pardon of these people would be wrong.
“I think it would destroy President Trump and I hope we don’t go down that road. They chose to go into that Capitol, defile the Capitol. President Trump never said, ‘Go into the Capitol and try to interrupt a joint session of Congress.’”
I completely agree that if Trump were to issue presidential pardons for rioters it would just make him look that much more guilty. Graham also flipped the script and attempted to place the blame for the assault on the Capitol building on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Lindsey Graham blames Nancy Pelosi for the security failure at the Capitol pic.twitter.com/SBJebqHTlM
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) January 17, 2021
This poor man. The duress he must be under, trying to conceal whatever it is that is forcing him to behave like a hostage…
— Tina Hayes, Fellow ReSISter 🌊🌊🌊 (@tinamichelehaze) January 17, 2021
Where was Nancy Pelosi??
She was hiding in a secure location because this fucker’s Orange master sent his rabid mob of cultists to attack the Capitol.
Her staff hid under a desk in the dark for hours, while some jackass broke into her office.
So Lindsey needs to shut the F up.— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) January 17, 2021
Seditionist Lindsey Graham wildly blamed Nancy Pelosi for the Insurrection. Even though Lindsey was harassed by Trumpers at the airport, he still can’t turn his Russian back on Trump. Lindsey spread election lies that led to the Siege. Investigate him for Treason, and expel him.
— Uncovering The Truth (@thebr0keb0i) January 17, 2021
Russell Todd (via Instagram)
“The top federal prosecutor in Washington D.C. said Thursday that President Trump was not off limits in his investigation of the events surrounding Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol” https://t.co/WcDhspCHvo
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 7, 2021
• Washington Post: U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund announced his resignation effective Jan. 16, a decision that came hours after Pelosi publicly called on him to step down over the department’s handling of the violent pro-Trump siege of the Capitol. Sund confided to colleagues he felt responsible for letting down his troops. • NY Times: Donald Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, a move that would mark one of the most extraordinary and untested uses of presidential power in American history. No president has ever pardoned himself. • NPR: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he plans to fire the Senate sergeant-at-arms, Michael Stenger, the highest-ranked law enforcement officer in the Senate, once Democrats regain control of the upper chamber. • Twitter: The rats are jumping ship as Donald Trump’s presidency burns to the ground. In the past 24 hours, numerous high-level officials in the Trump administration – from Cabinet members to the White House social secretary – have resigned (profiles in courage, I tell you) after Trump incited violence on the U.S. Capitol.
JUST IN: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has submitted her resignation, making her the second Cabinet member to resign over President Trump’s response to the riot https://t.co/lej7h81xkN
— CNN (@CNN) January 8, 2021
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao became the first cabinet member in the White House to resign, a day after President Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building https://t.co/bGi9sBpjtm pic.twitter.com/WVx5e5oSbH
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 8, 2021
‘I can’t stay here’ — Mick Mulvaney resigns from Trump administration, expects others to follow https://t.co/rE0egyP2O1
— CNBC (@CNBC) January 7, 2021
Ryan Tully, the top European and Russian official on the National Security Council, has resigned. Tully’s resignation marks the latest in a string of Trump administration officials leaving their posts in the wake of the violent clash at the Capitol. https://t.co/BDEO8AWBZ9
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 7, 2021
.@WhiteHouse Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews resigns from the Trump Administration in response to today’s events. I have always known her to be a good person who has the best interests of the nation at heart. pic.twitter.com/4ZMfmM2Zl3
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) January 7, 2021
Elaine Chao and Betsy DeVos aren’t taking some brave moral stand by resigning now. They knew how terrible he was. By getting out now, they avoid the 25th Amendment debate. They’re enabling Trump, not standing up to him.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 8, 2021
Pro rugby player Devin Ibañez with his boyfriend Fergus
Marcus D’Amico on the right (image via PBS)
President Trump is back on the golf course today in Florida pic.twitter.com/pvnGEWJrzl
— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) December 30, 2020
Donald Trump (photo: public domain)
Trump has been considering pardons for friends and allies, as Axios reported, interrupting conversations with associates to spontaneously suggest he add them to his pardon list. He already pardoned his former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
Sen. Rand Paul called on Trump to pardon Edward Snowden in an article for The Federalist on Thursday. A source with direct knowledge of the planning said they did not expect Trump to follow through with a Snowden pardon.
Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are said to be in the mix for consideration.
First the leak that Trump is planning to pardon a bunch of people today. Now the visual confirmation that Rudy Giuliani has just arrived at the White House. Today could get really stupid. Keep in mind that pardons aren't magic wands. Rudy likely goes to prison anyway.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) December 18, 2020