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Daily Archives: May 12, 2016
Paul Ryan and Donald Trump Release Joint Statement After Meeting: VIDEO
Paul Ryan and Donald Trump Release Joint Statement After Meeting: VIDEO
GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan and Donald Trump released a joint statement after a meeting to attempt to bridge a divide in the Republican Party. The meeting follows a refusal over the weekend by Ryan to endorse Trump as the party’s nominee.
And no endorsement is yet forthcoming, though the joint statement seems to suggest that it will come.
The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents. That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning. While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal. We are extremely proud of the fact that many millions of new voters have entered the primary system, far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history. This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification.
— Paul Ryan (@PRyan) May 12, 2016
Ryan spoke about the meeting in his weekly press briefing:
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Samantha Bee Destroys ‘Middle-Aged Potty Prefect’ Pat McCrory – WATCH
Samantha Bee Destroys ‘Middle-Aged Potty Prefect’ Pat McCrory – WATCH
Samantha Bee blasted North Carolina’s so-called bathroom bill, HB 2, and the governor who signed it, Pat McCrory, on her show Full Frontal this week.
Said Bee, “Fans of not being able to go to the bathroom without your birth certificate scored a victory when North Carolina’s governor signed HB2, which addressed the state’s urgent problem of LGBT people not being discriminated against enough.”
Bee also called Governor Pat McCrory a “middle-aged potty prefect” and added her name to the list of performers who will be boycotting the Tar Heel state: “I should add, until North Carolina lets trans people urinate in peace, I will not be bringing my 10-hour concert of Beyoncé covers to Raleigh.”
But Bee has a broader point to make about the dire straits North Carolina finds itself in, one that has its origins in 2010.
Bee quipped, “Boycotts are a powerful tool, but you know what is even a more powerful tool? Not electing a bunch of transphobic numbnuts who are going wreck the state economy to catch a nonexistent predator.”
Bee points out that many of North Carolina’s current problems, beyond even the debacle over HB 2, can be traced to the disastrous 2010 midterm elections when liberals and moderates stayed home and let right-wing nuts run the table.
That year, North Carolina got a Republican legislature for the first time since 1870, leading to all kinds of new conservative laws—including easier access to guns and less reproductive rights. They even passed a law that lets local election boards move polling places off of college campuses to suppress the youth vote.
Bee drove home the importance of mid-term elections, saying,
“Look, I know state elections aren’t fun. They don’t have cool concerts or ‘dank memes,’ but voting in them is important. Just think of it like a mammogram. It’s painful and inconvenient but you’ve got to do it because early prevention hurts a lot less than late-stage treatment.”
Watch, below.
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Dan Quayle, Dilma Rousseff, Tylenol, MH370, Muslim Ban, Gus Kenworthy’s Moon: NEWS
Dan Quayle, Dilma Rousseff, Tylenol, MH370, Muslim Ban, Gus Kenworthy’s Moon: NEWS
JUST A SUGGESTION. Donald Trump backtracks on Muslim ban plan: “Speaking to Fox News radio, the real estate mogul who won more than 60 per cent of the Republican vote in New York in March, said: ‘It hasn’t been called for yet. Nobody’s done it. This is just a suggestion until we find out what’s going on.’ The ban was only supposed to be temporary, he said in a separate television interview with Fox News.”
2016 ELECTION. Bernie Sanders’ California campaign director departs, adding to Golden State challenges: “Despite notching two wins this month, with more likely to come, Sanders is running lower on cash than expected and replaced his top official in California Wednesday. Meanwhile, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has moved to solidify her support in the state, which she won comfortably over Barack Obama in 2008…The campaign parted ways with its former California State director, Michael Ceraso, this week. No reason was given for the departure, but a spokesperson said the campaign feels “great” with their new director, Robert Becker, who has run several states for Sanders.”
Packs stadium in Sacramento…
This is what 21,000+ looks like at a Bernie Sanders rally in Sacramento #BernieInSacramento #FeelTheBern #bernie2016 pic.twitter.com/RMK4aKK8NO
— Dave (@fastlife3o5) May 10, 2016
ENDORSEMENTS. Newt Gingrich endorses Trump, says he’s open to VP spot: “I endorse Donald Trump. I am going to work very hard for the nominee.”
ENDORSEMENTS 2. Dan Quayle endorses Donald Trump.
OHIO. Rob Portman makes massive $15 million campaign ad buy.
BRAZIL. Senate votes to suspend President Dilma Rousseff and begin an impeachment trial: “In a vote of 55 to 22, lawmakers accepted the charges against Ms. Rousseff, accusing her of borrowing from state banks to conceal a looming deficit, a budgetary sleight of hand that critics say was aimed at securing her re-election two years ago.”
#Brazil‘s suspended President #DilmaRousseff vows to fight impeachment, dismisses Senate vote as a ‘farce,’ insists she is innocent.
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) May 12, 2016
TEXAS. Secession vote to take place at Texas Republican Party convention.
LIFE OUT THERE. NASA discovers more than 1,200 new planets: “NASA said Tuesday that Kepler, constantly searching the cosmos for “exoplanets” circling other stars, has detected an additional 1,284 planets outside our solar system. That more than doubles the spacecraft’s previous tally of exoplanets. ‘This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth,’ said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The latest batch of new worlds includes 100-plus that are roughly Earth-sized and therefore almost certainly rocky, Morton said. Planets that are rocky, rather than gassy, seem the best bet as incubators of life outside our own corner of the galaxy.”
MOON SHOT. Gus Kenworthy flashes his ass.
MH370. Two pieces likely from missing jet: “A piece of engine cowling featuring a Rolls-Royce stencil, which was found in South Africa earlier this year, is “almost certainly” from the Boeing 777 that went missing more than two years ago with 239 people on board, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Thursday.The second piece found on 30 March in Mauritius – eight days after the engine cowling – is “almost certainly” a panel segment from MH370’s main cabin.” Cabin torn apart on impact?
DRUGS. Acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol, may reduce empathy according to a new study: “Acetaminophen affects a lot of processes in the brain,” Mischkowski said. “Potentially, it affects inflammatory processes which mediate physical pain. It might also be related to serotonin or endocannabinoids or opioids. So all of this leads to potential mechanisms.”
ART. Sculpture of buttocks placed on shortlist for Turner Prize: “Hamilton’s buttocks sculpture was part of her Lichen! Libdo! Chastity! exhibition in New York. It’s her interpretation of Italian architect Gaetano Pesce’s (sadly unrealised) proposal for the door of a Manhattan office building. ”
SPACE TRAVEL. Boeing’s ‘space taxi’ delayed: “There’s something not quite right at Boeing, and its efforts towards building new ways to get into space are suffering. Last month we reported that the ULA, a satellite-launching partnership Boeing has with Lockheed Martin, was edged-out of an Air Force GPS contract by SpaceX. Rumors then began to surface saying that the company simply couldn’t compete with SpaceX on price. The GeekWire report confirms that Boeing will slash around 4,000 jobs with even more being considered for later on in the year. Which, as you all know, is a sign that everything’s going just peachy.”
DIVING. Tom Daley won the first ever European Championships Mixed Synchro event with Grace Reid!
SCIENCE. Can thermosolar hives save the bee population?
THIRSTY THURSDAY. Bent Bear.
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Luncheon Cheers for Charlotte Mayor and City Council Supporters of Equality
Luncheon Cheers for Charlotte Mayor and City Council Supporters of Equality
Yesterday, the Charlotte, North Carolina, LGBT and allied community gathered to celebrate Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the seven members of the Charlotte City Council who voted in favor of the city’s non-discrimination ordinance. They were honored at the ninth annual Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund luncheon with a standing ovation for their strong support of Charlotte’s LGBT community.
Mayor Roberts recognized the contributions of her fellow council members and the crowd welcomed her with much enthusiasm.
“We are greater because you are telling your stories, and we are moving forward together,” she said.
HRC Board member Scott Bishop and HRC Board of Governors Jeremy Carter, Ann Hooper and Dan Mauney, as well as HRC Charlotte steering committee members Crystal Richardson, Chris Turner and Jamie Hildreth, were on-hand to help cheer Mayor Roberts and the Charlotte City Council’s staunch supporters of the LGBT community.
“We stood up and proved we support equality and inclusion. Regardless of how or what has come out if it, regardless of how the politics play out, Charlotte will continue to promote and support and display for the world to see, our values of equality and inclusion,” Mayor Roberts said. “That is not negotiable.”
The seven members of the Council who voted in favor of adding transgender protections to Charlotte’s non-discrimination ordinance were At-large council members Vi Lyles, Julie Eiselt, and James “Smuggie” Mitchell, as well as council members Al Austin, John Autry, Patsy Kinsey and LaWana Mayfield.
The Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund announced 17 grants this year totalling a record breaking $133,000, including a grant to the Charlotte-based, national organization Campus Pride, whose Executive Director Shane Windmeyer and staff were in attendance. Other grant recipients include Time Out Youth and PFLAG Charlotte.
Weeks after the Charlotte City Council passed local LGBT non-discrimination protections, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law an outrageous and unprecedented anti-LGBT bill. The bill, HB2, was passed in rapid succession that same day by the North Carolina House and Senate, led by Senate President Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore.
HB2 not only prevented Charlotte’s much needed protections from being enacted, it also eliminated all other existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people; forced transgender students to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity; eliminated the ability of individuals to file state lawsuit for discrimination including on the basis of race, sex, religion, and national origin; and prevents municipalities from passing living wage ordinances.
HRC is a member of TurnOUT! NC, a coalition that includes Equality North Carolina, the ACLU and the Campaign for Southern Equality with the simple goal of mobilizing thousands of pro-equality North Carolinians to speak out for full repeal of HB2. If you live in North Carolina and want to join the efforts to repeal HB2, RSVP for upcoming phonebanks and volunteer opportunities. For more information about our work in North Carolina, contact HRC Associate Regional Field Director Ryan Rowe at [email protected].
Above: Councilwoman Patsy Kinsey with HRC Scott Bishop
Above: Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield and HRC Scott Bishop
Above: Mayor Jennifer Roberts and HRC Jeremy Carter
Above: Equality NC’s Crystal Richardson and HRC’s Ryan Wilson
24-Hour Challenge: HRC Needs You!
24-Hour Challenge: HRC Needs You!
If you’re tired of out-of-touch, hate-driven politicians infringing on our basic civil rights, stand with HRC to help us fight to repeal North Carolina’s anti-LGBT bill HB2 once and for all.
We’re counting on you to ramp up our ground game. We must raise additional resources quickly – before Saturday – to put more activists in the field … knock more doors … hold more lobby days … conduct more phone banks … all while keeping up our efforts to defeat hate in other states.
Your help will determine how big we can go. Donate to our Emergency 24-Hour Giving Challenge now.
We cannot sit idly by as politicians in North Carolina codify anti-transgender discrimination into law.
Every dollar we raise helps us do the crucial work needed to defeat North Carolina’s discriminatory HB2…and we won’t let naysayers like Governor Pat McCrory distract us from what needs to be done.
Are you ready to step up to the challenge? We are.
www.hrc.org/blog/24-hour-challenge-hrc-needs-you?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
North Carolina Chamber to LGBT Community: You Don’t Deserve Full Equality
North Carolina Chamber to LGBT Community: You Don’t Deserve Full Equality
Today, HRC and Equality NC blasted the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce for calling for unacceptable, partial solutions to the tremendous damage inflicted on the state’s reputation and economy by Governor McCrory and state lawmakers in passing HB2. In an interview with local TWC News, the chamber’s president and CEO, Law Ebert, told the LGBT community they should compromise and allow discrimination to continue.
Ebert refused to call for full repeal of HB2, even as 200+ leading CEOs and major business leaders have now signed onto HRC and Equality NC’s open letter urging McCrory and the state’s General Assembly to repeal HB2. With his unacceptable compromise, Ebert is ignoring the overwhelming outcry from the business community and opposing the chamber’s own members that have gone on record for repeal.
“Refusing to call for full repeal of HB2, the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s leadership has succumbed to pressure from anti-LGBT state lawmakers, and even worse, decided that LGBT North Carolinians don’t deserve nondiscrimination protections,” said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. “The state’s chamber should instead be listening to the overwhelming outcry from the business community who are demanding HB2 be repealed. The only acceptable solution to the deep damage inflicted on the state by Governor McCrory is to fully repeal HB2 and replace it with commonsense, nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people.”
“It is clear that the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is out of touch when 200 major CEOs have come out against HB2 — yet the Chamber’s leadership refuses to call for a repeal of HB2,” said Chris Sgro, Executive Director of Equality NC. “The NC Chamber of Commerce needs to reevaluate its commitments to economic, community, and workforce developments when it is clear that HB2 is bad for business, our community and the North Carolina economy. The NC Chamber of Commerce must take the situation at hand seriously and listen to the countless large and small businesses that have voiced their disagreement and have called for a repeal of HB2.”
In the fifty days since HB2 was signed into law, North Carolina has already lost more than a half billion dollars, or $10 million per day, in economic activity just from companies canceling or reconsidering plans to come to the state, and in cancelled conventions, concerts, and other lost tourism dollars. That doesn’t even include potential economic development that now just won’t happen in North Carolina because of McCrory’s radical law, or the potential catastrophic loss of federal funding for schools, roads, bridges, and other essential services. This is exactly why chambers like the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce have called for full repeal.
The NBA has threatened next year’s All-Star Game in Charlotte, NASCAR has spoken about its opposition publicly, and the NCAA has said it won’t schedule events – including the Final Four – in cities that don’t have fully-inclusive non-discrimination laws. Under the North Carolina Chamber’s suggested bill, North Carolina cities would still not qualify to be host cities for NCAA events.
Today also marks one month since HRC and Equality NC filed an open records request seeking information from the office of Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, and House Speaker Tim Moore about their communications with anti-LGBT activists to pass the disastrous HB 2 into law. That request has still gone unanswered.
Gov. McCrory and state lawmakers are under increasingly intense pressure to repeal HB 2, including from the U.S. Department of Justice which has filed a lawsuit against North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, the state’s Department of Public Safety, and the University of North Carolina and Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina over HB2’s violations of federal civil rights law.
DWTS New Sexual Revolution
DWTS New Sexual Revolution
BrotherWatch posted a photo:
Essay: “DWTS and the New Sexual Revolution” at wp.me/p4scHf-f8.
The Sixties Sexual Revolution continues to push the envelope, mainstreaming everything once regarded as taboo and upending the foundations of civilization.
DWTS has joined that new sexual revolution and it offers us a message: human beings (and human sexuality) are interchangeable.
Biology 101 and Theology 101 refute that false message. DNA proves sexuality is binary; traditional marriage (man & woman) is its end result.
See “DWTS and the New Sexual Revolution” at wp.me/p4scHf-f8.
Could A Lesbian Princess Melt Elsa’s “Frozen” Heart In Disney’s Upcoming Sequel?
Could A Lesbian Princess Melt Elsa’s “Frozen” Heart In Disney’s Upcoming Sequel?
Frozen wasn’t just your average mega-hit, earworm producing, toy-selling Disney blockbuster. Many cultural commentators praised the film — which was loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” — for its deviation from the standard princess narrative. At its center is the relationship between sisters Elsa and Anna, two heroines who don’t wait around for a white knight or a charming prince to save them. And although Anna totally sparks with mountain man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), the film ends with Elsa (Idina Menzel) ruling her kingdom autonomously, suggesting that “Happily Every After” doesn’t have to include a romantic relationship. Cue “All The Single Ladies.”
But with Disney currently developing a sequel to the 2013 animated hit, there’s a growing campaign to have Elsa settle down with a nice lady.
Teen activist Alexis Isabel Moncada, founder of the blog Feminist Culture, sparked the movement last month with the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend. Her original tweet has received nearly 3,500 likes and has been retweeted over 2,100 times.
Dear @Disney, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend
— Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) May 1, 2016
Moncada makes a great point, as she explained to MTV.com recently: “The entertainment industry has given us girls who have fallen in love with beasts, ogres who fall for humans, and even grown women who love bees. But we’ve never been able to see the purity in a queer relationship.” And Frozen’s signature — and often unavoidable — song “Let It Go” has been recast by drag queens and other queers the world over as a coming out anthem, with Elsa’s struggle to accept and embrace her wintry powers seen as an unmistakable metaphor for LGBTQ teens’ struggle to accept themselves in the face of homophobia.
The #GiveElsaAGirlfriend hashtag isn’t the first time fans have put the pressure on the House of Mouse to have an existing character come out. If Finn and Poe aren’t a thing in future Star Wars episodes, the backlash could be so severe the films’ producers may wish they lived in a galaxy far, far away. But it’s slightly more complicated with Elsa. She’s already a potent example of a woman who doesn’t need a man or potentially any sort of romantic partner in her life. That’s an important lesson for anyone: being single doesn’t mean being lonely; career, friends, a sense of purpose can all be as fulfilling as a relationship — maybe even more so.
Still, you can’t argue with Moncada about the difference a lesbian Disney princess could make to young girls: “Giving young girls the chance to understand that a princess can love another … is vital to their development. No one deserves to feel isolated and confused about who they are. All we need is someone to show us that there are other options, other kinds of princesses, and other ways to have the happy ending that you deserve.”
Michael Fassbender Brings ‘Assassin’s Creed’ to Life in New Trailer: WATCH
Michael Fassbender Brings ‘Assassin’s Creed’ to Life in New Trailer: WATCH
The trailer for the biggest video game-to-film adaptation of the year (except for maybe the upcoming Warcraft) has arrived with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the lead Assassin’s Creed roles.
The film takes off in areas the game hasn’t visited, as Forbes explains:
We don’t have all the details, but Fassbender seems to be some sort of criminal who is executed (supposedly), then recruited by Abstergo for the Animus project.
The Animus looks to be some kind of large, freerunning device in the open air that Fassbender is strapped into, rather than him simply lying on a chair Matrix-style. The Spanish Inquisition is also somewhere the games have not visited, so the “past” storyline will not echo the games either. It remains to be seen which historical figures will cameo in the film, or if the “ancient aliens” plotline of the games will make its way in there.
Watch:
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