Obama Hammers Trump at Rutgers Commencement: ‘Ignorance Is Not a Virtue’ – WATCH

President Obama delivered the commencement address at Rutgers University yesterday and once again showed what a talented orator he is. He also took aim at Donald Trump, though didn’t mention him by name.

Here’s an excerpt:

Facts, evidence, reason, logic, an understanding of science — these are good things.  (Applause.)  These are qualities you want in people making policy.  These are qualities you want to continue to cultivate in yourselves as citizens.  (Applause.)  That might seem obvious. (Laughter.)  That’s why we honor Bill Moyers or Dr. Burnell.

We traditionally have valued those things.  But if you were listening to today’s political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from.  (Applause.)  So, Class of 2016, let me be as clear as I can be.  In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.  (Applause.)  It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about.  (Applause.)  That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is.  (Laughter.)  That’s not challenging political correctness.  That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.  (Applause.)  And yet, we’ve become confused about this.

Look, our nation’s Founders — Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson — they were born of the Enlightenment.  They sought to escape superstition, and sectarianism, and tribalism, and no-nothingness.  (Applause.)  They believed in rational thought and experimentation, and the capacity of informed citizens to master our own fates.  That is embedded in our constitutional design.  That spirit informed our inventors and our explorers, the Edisons and the Wright Brothers, and the George Washington Carvers and the Grace Hoppers, and the Norman Borlaugs and the Steve Jobses.  That’s what built this country.

And today, in every phone in one of your pockets — (laughter) — we have access to more information than at any time in human history, at a touch of a button.  But, ironically, the flood of information hasn’t made us more discerning of the truth. In some ways, it’s just made us more confident in our ignorance. (Applause.)  We assume whatever is on the web must be true.  We search for sites that just reinforce our own predispositions. Opinions masquerade as facts.  The wildest conspiracy theories are taken for gospel.

Now, understand, I am sure you’ve learned during your years of college — and if not, you will learn soon — that there are a whole lot of folks who are book smart and have no common sense.  (Applause.)  That’s the truth.  You’ll meet them if you haven’t already.  (Laughter.)  So the fact that they’ve got a fancy degree — you got to talk to them to see whether they know what they’re talking about.  (Laughter.)  Qualities like kindness and compassion, honesty, hard work — they often matter more than technical skills or know-how.  (Applause.)

But when our leaders express a disdain for facts, when they’re not held accountable for repeating falsehoods and just making stuff up, while actual experts are dismissed as elitists, then we’ve got a problem.  (Applause.)

Watch:

Watch the whole speech (excerpted portion above begins at 21:38):

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NH High School Teacher Suspended For Sexting Students on Grindr: VIDEO

A New Hampshire high school teacher was placed on administrative leave last week after he was accused of sending nude pictures to students asking them to have sex with him.

Bruce Lanctot, who taught social studies at Nashua High School South for almost 15 years, turned himself in to police on Wednesday and is now facing a number of charges, including two felonies related to using a computer to lure minors for sex. Police allege that Lanctot used Grindr to communicate with several students at the school.

According to WMUR9 ABC, police said the youngest victim is fifteen and all victims are boys. Superintendent Mark Conrad said the allegations are surprising because Lanctot has always been highly regarded and there have been no previous issues. He added that school counselors and administrators are in place to speak with students in classes Lanctot was teaching.

RELATED: Anti-Gay Priest Caught Sending Nude Photos on Grindr To Former Student

Lanctot has been released on bail.

You can watch an ABC report on the case here. click image below for report from NH1.

(Image via Twitter)

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‘CBS Sunday Morning’ Profiles ‘Anything But Cookie Cutter’ News Anchor Rachel Maddow: WATCH

CBS Sunday Morning did a great profile on MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, her hobbies, home life, and newscasting career, noting that “she’s anything but cookie-cutter.”

For instance, Maddow loves to go to the gun range and shoot a Colt .45 pistol and AR-15 rifle though she’s “a real liberal” on gun safety and gun control.

Her news segments are not like anyone else’s either, as Towleroad readers know – often a labyrinthine narrative of segments woven together. “Storytelling is fun for me,” she explains.

Her news show dress is unconventional too. Since we only see one half of her, she’s usually got a t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes or boots on under her blazer: “It’s business upstairs, party downstairs.”

The segment also touches on her education, giving us a brief glimpse of when she was a long-haired blonde at Stanford:

And her relationship with longtime partner Susan Mikula, but she won’t go too far into that:

“It’s private. There’s a lot about my relationship with Susan that we keep to ourselves. And so I have a strong feeling on equal rights. I’m an unabashed advocate that people in this country should have equal access to the rights and privileges of citizenship. But  in terms of what that means for my own relationship? Eh, that’s my own relationship.”

The segment does reveal that Maddow suffers from depression, and how Mikula helps her get through it.

“The time when it’s hardest is when I have forgotten that this happens to me, and so I don’t know what it is, and she will say, ‘you are depressed.’ And just being able to identify it and then knowing that it’s not going to be forever, and that it will pass, and that it will ease at some point, helps.”

Watch:

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VIDEO: GLAAD prepares Ukrainian advocates to speak up and speak out

www.glaad.org/blog/video-glaad-prepares-ukrainian-advocates-speak-and-speak-out

These Are the Trans People Killed in 2016

www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/5/16/these-are-trans-people-killed-2016

John Oliver Invites Trump’s Fake Publicist John Miller to His Show for an Interview: WATCH

John Oliver took horror and delight in the revelation that presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump posed as his own publicist, John Miller, to brag about himself to reporters way back when.

Exclaimed Oliver on Last Week Tonight: That is so perfectly Donald Trump. Even his imaginary alter ego brags about himself!”

RELATED: Donald Trump Pretended to Be His Own Spokesperson to Brag About Himself – AUDIO, VIDEO

Oliver made not of the fact that Miller boasted about all of the women who were after Trump, particularly Madonna:

“Now much like his candidacy, that claim is sad but not implausible. Now remember, in the ’90s there were rumors that Madonna got together with Vanilla Ice, Jose Canseco, and Willem Dafoe. And what is Donald Trump if not a mixture of the authenticity of Vanilla Ice, the likability of Jose Canseco, and the terrifying facial expressions of Willem Dafoe?”

Still, Oliver is flabbergasted that Trump had the balls to deny Miller is him after copping to it several years ago.

“It’s clearly you!”

So Oliver has invited Miller to appear on the show. Don’t expect he’ll ever turn up.

Watch:

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'Ex-Gay' Clinics Are Torturing Youth Around the Globe

Ecuadorian writer César L. Baquerizo is releasing his first English-lanugage novel, A Safe Place With You, about a “conversion” clinic in his native country. He tells us about the real people — abused by religious frauds —who inspired his book. 

www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/5/16/ex-gay-clinics-are-torturing-youth-around-globe

'RuPaul's Drag Race' Stars vs. North Carolina

The cast of season 8 spoke out against anti-LGBT legislation at the finale taping.

www.advocate.com/television/2016/5/16/rupauls-drag-race-stars-vs-north-carolina