Elizabeth Warren Holds Back Tears in Emotional Exchange with Young Voter: WATCH
Elizabeth Warren shared an emotional exchange she had with a young voter in Marion, Iowa in a short video posted to social media on Monday.
Asked the young woman: “I was wondering if there was ever a time in your life where somebody you really looked up to maybe didn’t accept you as much? And how you dealt with that?”
Replied Warren, before embracing the woman: “Yeah. My mother and I had very different views of how to build a future. She wanted me to marry well, and I really tried, and it just didn’t work out. And there came a day when I had to call her and say, this is over. I can’t make it work. And I heard the disappointment in her voice. I knew how she felt about it. But I also knew it was the right thing to do. And sometimes you just gotta do what’s right inside, and hope that maybe the rest of the world will come around to it. And maybe they will and maybe they won’t. But the truth is, you’ve gotta take care of yourself first and do this.”
I was asked at a town hall “if there was ever a time in your life where somebody you really looked up to maybe didn’t accept you as much?” Here’s my answer: pic.twitter.com/ariYPwvWQr
Franklin Graham: Pray to Keep Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay
Evangelist Franklin Graham has called on his flock to pray — pray that Chick-fil-A stays anti-gay.
Said Graham on Facebook: “Chick-fil-A has been in the news a lot, and every day it seems there’s a new article about their charitable giving. There has been a lot of concern and criticism, and maybe rightly so. For Christian schools, businesses, and organizations, there is always a danger of drifting to the left. It is my sincere hope that Chick-fil-A will not allow that to happen. With the majority of corporate America caving to the LGBTQ agenda, Chick-fil-A has stood against the tide—with people of faith supporting them all the way. What can we do now? I would encourage Christians everywhere to pray for Dan Cathy, his brother Bubba, and the family as they have some important decisions to make. It’s their company, they can do what they want. But my prayer is that God will lead and direct them, and that they will continue to honor their late father Truett Cathy’s strong stand for biblical values–all to the glory of God! While Chick-fil-A is one of the few restaurants closed on Sunday to honor God, what if we make today “Pray for Chick-fil-A Day?” Will you join me in praying?”
Indiana School Board Member Says ‘Cry Me a River’ When Asked to Address LGBTQ Suicides: WATCH
A group of LGBTQ activists from Tri-State Alliance who had signed up to speak to the Evansville, Indiana school board meeting were shut down by board members as they began to address the needs of transgender students, the Illinois Eagle reports.
After the group addressed board member Ann Ennis about transgender suicides, Ennis told them there was no support on the board to protect transgender students.
TRUMP. The impeachment strategy is run out the clock: “The realistic window for Congress to consider impeaching him is closing, with the 2020 election less than a year away. If the overriding goal is to keep information from coming out while his term and potential re-election hang in the balance, the Trump legal strategy is succeeding despite all the adverse rulings.”
DOJ WATCHDOG. No evidence to support claim that FBI spied on Trump campaign. “The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said.”
1. Universal public systems are designed to benefit EVERYBODY! Everyone contributes & everyone enjoys. We don’t ban the rich from public schools, firefighters, or libraries bc they are public goods.
2. Universal systems that benefit everyone are stronger bc everyone’s invested!
EUROVISION. Is it too gay for Hungary? “Hungary has pulled out of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Rotterdam. No reason was given, but many people are speculating that the decision is related to the government’s homophobic stance.”
MALAYSIA. Gay Vietnamese tourists fined for “immoral act” in Penang hotel: ‘Tang Van Duc, 22, and Lee Vu Linh, 29, made their pleas after the charge sheet was read out to them in English by a translator before judge Norhayati Mohd Yunus. The duo – a gaycouple – was arrested by the State Immigration Department in the hotel room while participating in an “immoral act” with an “agent provocateur” at about 9.30pm on Nov 12.’
STELLAR. Scientists discover monster black hole in our galaxy so large it shouldn’t exist: “Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution,” said Liu Jifeng, head of the team that made the discovery. “LB-1 is twice as massive as what we thought possible. Now theorists will have to take up the challenge of explaining its formation.”
NEW TUNE OF THE DAY. Kacey Musgraves “Glittery”.
SURPRISE SANTA OF THE DAY. Sia stopped by a Walmart and paid for everyone’s items.
AIDS Memorial Quilt, Howard Cruse, Jimmy Wales, Gateway Drugs, Pete Buttigieg, Knives Out, Ostrich Eggs: HOT LINKS
WHAT HE KNEW. Trump knew of whistleblower complaint when he released aid to Ukraine: “Lawyers from the White House counsel’s office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said.”
RIP. Groundbreaking cartoonish Howard Cruse: “Thanks to Cruse’s big-hearted art, readers have received a big scope vision of gay life in the latter half of the 20th century.”
NAMES PROJECT. AIDS Memorial Quit is getting permanent home: “The quilt will be moved from Atlanta to the National AIDS Memorial in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for long-term preservation and educational purposes, while related archival collections will be under the care of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington.”
GATEWAY DRUG. Joe Biden backtracks on marijuana remarks: “‘I don’t think it is a gateway drug. There’s no evidence I’ve seen to suggest that.’ … Biden said marijuana should be ‘totally decriminalized,’ and that anyone convicted for using the drug should have their criminal record “wiped totally clean, completely clean.”
JIMMY WALES. Wikipedia founder says Twitter should ban Trump: “A lot of stuff he says would not violate the terms of service of Twitter — he’s a blowhard and he says false things,” said Wales. “But he’s attacked people in ways that other people couldn’t get away with. I mean they’ve made it very clear that they are applying the rules differently.”
2020. Pete Buttigieg to return donations from Brett Kavanaugh’s lawyers: “Buttigieg’s campaign received $7,200 from Alexandra Walsh – $3,150 of which had already been returned because it exceeded limits – and attended a fundraiser in July that was co-hosted by the Washington lawyer. Buttigieg also received $2,800 from Beth Wilkinson, Walsh’s law partner, who also represented Kavanaugh. When asked by the Guardian about the donations, the campaign said it had overlooked the lawyers’ role in the Kavanaugh confirmation and had made a mistake in accepting the donations.”
REVIEW OF THE DAY. Breaking Banter reviews Knives Out.
LGBTQ advocates and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have reached a deal to ban harmful gay conversion therapy for minors in the state of Utah. The deal was announced by Governor Gary Herbert on Twitter.
Breaking news out of my office tonight as we have reached an agreement with multiple stakeholders on a rule that will ban conversion therapy on minors in the state of Utah. #utpolpic.twitter.com/hMkGUQmMrD
Star Wars, Róisín Murphy, Bill Barr, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Papa John’s, Mark McGrath, Lucille Ball: HOT LINKS
FAILURE TO COMPLY. House Oversight and Reform Committee sues Bill Barr and Wilbur Ross: “Since the Supreme Court ruled against them—and the House of Representatives held them in contempt for blocking the Committee’s investigation—Attorney General Barr and Commerce Secretary Ross have doubled down on their open defiance of the rule of law and refused to produce even a single additional document in response to our Committee’s bipartisan subpoenas,” committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “President Trump and his aides are not above the law,” Maloney added. “They cannot be allowed to disregard and degrade the authority of Congress to fulfill our core Constitutional legislative and oversight responsibilities.”
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG. All about the money: “The most consistent theme of the day from Michael Bloomberg’s first in-person appearance as a presidential candidate was not the size of the crowd but the size of how much he’s spent on building political good will.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “What [Michael Bloomberg] believes, and this is the arrogance of billionaires, hey I can run for President because I’m worth $55 billion.” pic.twitter.com/V8MJ4KoySx
MICHAEL HARRIOT. Pete Buttigieg is a lying MF. This piece has been trending on Twitter most of the day on Tuesday. ‘The topic was trending due to an opinion piece titled “Pete Buttigieg Is A Lying MF” written by The Root senior writer Michael Harriot. In it, Harriot addressed a resurfaced video of Buttigieg from 2011, in which the presidential candidate said many minority children from low-income neighborhoods don’t know people who demonstrate the value of education, implying that seeing more role models would help them to succeed. At the time, Buttigieg was was running for mayor of South Bend, Ind.’
KEVIN MCCARTHY. House Minority Leader’s new ad defending Trump contains Russian stock footage. “The clip showing a farmer walking through a cornfield was found on the website Pond5 and is credited to a user from Russia. Andrew Kaczynski, a reporter from CNN, first connected the footage to Russia sources. Kaczynski pointed out that another clip of a farmer within the ad was uploaded from a user in Israel.”
What if I told you… ⇒ He won the election. ⇒ He spoke for millions who didn’t have a voice. ⇒ Despite their obstruction, he is still getting things done for the American people. pic.twitter.com/ZuVq1Jl9RG
NEW JERSEY. State moves to ban “gay panic” defense: “The bill, which is now sponsored by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), has not yet had a committee hearing in the Senate, where it also must pass to reach Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.”
TRANSFORMATION OF THE DAY. Debra Messing as Lucille Ball.
PREVIEW CLIP OF THE DAY. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
CNN reports: “The heckling lasted for about one minute, according to CNN’s Kate Bennett, who was in the room. But the audience remained raucous, audibly speaking over her remarks throughout her brief speech to the B’More Youth Summit. … She was again loudly booed, and also cheered, as she departed the stage at the conclusion of her speech. This is the first time the first lady has been publicly booed at a solo event, though the Trump administration has had strained relations with the city of Baltimore.”
Feast Your Eyes on the Final Season of ‘EastSiders’ — TRAILER
Kit Williamson’s Emmy-nominated series EastSiders is headed back to Netflix on December 1 for a fourth and final season and looks set to tackle age-old questions about long term relationships, open marriages, and commitment with a lot of humor, sex, and drag.
An update on EastSiders’ characters, for those of you familiar with the series: “Cal (Kit Williamson) and Thom (Van Hansis) are back home from season three’s cross-country road trip, still a couple but wondering if they are really just best friends with benefits. Douglas (Willam) and Quincy (Stephen Guarino) are engaged to be married, but with very different ideas about what a gay wedding should be. Hillary (Brianna Brown) and Ian (John Halbach) are cohabiting peacefully; and Jeremy (Matthew McKelligon) and Derrick (Leith M. Burke) have taken a huge step in their relationship by fostering a child.”
Joining the cast this season are Jake Choi (Single Parents), Hailee Sahar (Pose), Tom Lenk (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Daniel Newman (The Walking Dead), Lin Shaye (Insidious), Bryan Batt (Mad Men), Traci Lords (Crybaby, Swedish Dicks), Manila Luzon and Katya Zamolodchikova (Drag Race), Max Emerson, Chris Salvatore (Eating Out), Jai Rodriguez (original Queer Eye), Brea Grant (Heroes), Satya Bhabha (Sens8), Jolly Abraham (Law & Order: SVU and Broadway’s Bombay Dreams), Seth Daniel (Feral), adult film star Adam Ramzi, drag performers Marta Beatchu and Biqtch Pudding (Dragula), Mark Kanemura (So You Think You Can Dance), RJ Aguilar, Andres Camilo, Rick Twombley-King and Griff Twombley-King.
This can have real consequences. For example, other people do take it personally if you stop talking to them to answer a message. And taking a break from a task to look at your cell phone precludes deep thinking on whatever you were doing.
But this tells only part of the story. We need to also acknowledge that today’s technologies can make us more connected than ever before.
So how do we avoid the potential pitfalls while still reaping the benefits?
How screens affect our interactions
As a researcher in the area of technology and communications, I have spent nearly two decades looking at the ways in which interacting via screens is different from interacting in other ways, including face-to-face, on the phone and in writing.
My research group has produced study after study showing that people are more self-serving (that is, they lie more), more negative (for example, giving others lower feedback ratings) and less cooperative (more “looking out for No. 1” behavior) when they use digital means of communicating. And for children under five, there are serious concerns for brain development.
Our fears about the impact of increasing amounts of screen time on ourselves and our children involve three main areas: mental health, addiction and the level of engagement with what’s going on around us. In all three, the risks are generally overblown.
Much has been made of the potential links between depression and cell phone use – especially in teenagers – but recent evidence seems to indicate that that link is tenuous at best.
As for addiction, the field of psychology has now recognized video game addiction as a genuine and diagnosable problem. Stories from rehab centers for people whose lives have been consumed by this addiction suggest the phenomenon is real and the suffering can be quite genuine.
But this is rare compared with the numbers of people who play online games without serious consequences.
And in terms of engagement, despite growing amounts of time spent on screens, the vast majority of kids do still get educated, make friends and go on to lead productive lives.
A more connected world
As more and more of our interactions move away from the traditional face-to-face and into the online realm, I believe we must recognize that in some areas, richness and engagement may also be on the rise.
Colleagues can work together from afar, friends can keep in touch without restraint and grandparents can directly touch base with their grandkids without needing to schedule a visit or go through the parents.
Language changes as we interact in shorter bursts, allowing us to connect in less formal ways. Humor changes as we are able to add visuals – pictures, emojis, GIFs, memes – to our words. Even those online video games can be a portal to increased social interactions for some.
Do you have a problem?
Perhaps the best way to evaluate time spent with our phones is to ask two related questions.
First, what are you doing with the time you’re devoting to your phone, and is it consistent with your values and priorities?
If you feel that you and your kids are enjoying your screen time and not risking sleep, work or in-person interactions, you may not have much reason for concern. To help with this task, tools and apps that can track your screen time and let you know where your attention is being directed – or even limit where it can go – are becoming more prevalent.
Secondly, what are your blind spots about where and how phone use might be limiting the rest of your life?
Most of us realize we shouldn’t use phones right before bed – or, even worse, when driving or crossing streets – and we know we should keep an eye on our kids and teenagers to ensure that they are building good habits both inside and outside the digital realm. But we’re less clear on how our phones might be affecting our lives in other ways.
The latest research offers some lessons. For starters, we’re not as good as we think at multitasking: We generally give worse attention to both tasks when we try to do two things at once. Over time, people who do this constantly end up with greater error rates on tasks, perhaps linked to poorer working memories.
All of this means that even though you may not need to worry about your phone use overall, there are still moments when you’d be wise to put your device out of sight and earshot. This will give you the best chance to think about complex tasks without interruption or to engage more fully with those around you.
Putting down our phones completely seems neither realistic nor desirable: Society has moved forward, phones in hand.
But choosing the moments where being phone-free is most valuable can help keep you on track.
