Stormy Daniels is now suing Donald Trump's lawyer for defamation of character.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Stormy Daniels ramped up her legal battle against President Trump on Monday, alleging in court that his personal attorney Michael Cohen defamed her by insinuating that she lied about an affair with Trump more than a decade ago. 

Daniels amended her existing lawsuit against Trump, adding Cohen as a defendant in the pending case. The expansion of the lawsuit in a California federal court comes one day after the adult-film actress’s widely watched interview on “60 Minutes.”

Now this is very problematic because Trump is also being sued by alleged sexual harassment victim Summer Zervos for defamation of character as well.

That would be two different women, with two entirely different experiences, suing Trump, or a Trump lawyer, for defaming them.

And at this point I should add, so far.

Now interestingly enough Michael Cohen's lawyer sent off a cease and desist order last night essentially accusing Daniels of defaming HIM by suggesting that he sent the thug that threatened her back in 2011.

Cohen’s lawyer fired back almost immediately after the Daniels interview with this letter saying allegation of goon threatening her was false >> pic.twitter.com/TWH2djrFPq

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 26, 2018

The problem is that she never made any such allegation.

As proven by a transcript written by Think Progress:  

Stormy Daniels: I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T– taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.” And then he was gone. 

Anderson Cooper: You took it as a direct threat? 

Stormy Daniels: Absolutely. 

Stormy Daniels: I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna– drop her. 

Anderson Cooper: Did you ever see that person again? 

Stormy Daniels: No. But I– if I did, I would know it right away. 

Anderson Cooper: You’d be able to– you’d be able to recognize that person? 

Stormy Daniels: 100%. Even now, all these years later. If he walked in this door right now, I would instantly know.

At no point in her answers to Anderson Cooper does Stormy Daniels suggest that the thug was sent by Cohen.

The attorney for Stormy Daniels also responded with this to questions about whether threats are still being directed at his client: 

"Absolutely. She receives threats on a near-hourly basis. Now, we don't have anything tying those to Mr. Cohen or Mr. Trump, to be clear, but she's certainly scared for her safety and the safety of her family."

You know it seems more and more like this attorney for Stormy Daniels just casually sets up a tripwire for Donald Trump and his attorneys, and they clumsily stumble into it every time.

There are a lot of trolls out there working overtime to convince us that this is a nothing burger, and that it will have no impact on Donald Trump whatsoever, but I disagree.

In fact this story seems to be metastasizing. and public interest remains high.

In fact the Stormy Daniels 60 Minutes interview brought in the show's highest ratings in nearly a decade.

And things may continue to ramp up from here. According to one of Daniels' best friends, there is a dress:

During a much longer interview with CNN's Jim Sciutto, Stormy's friend Alana Evans told him she was unaware of any texts, pictures or video but there was one thing. One little thing. 

"All I know is that Stormy still has the dress that she wore from that night," Evans told Sciutto

They may come to this story for the sex, but they leave recognizing that the guy in the White House is vulnerable to blackmail, and is almost certainly compromised by foreign agents.

Donald Trump is thinking of publicly fighting the Stormy Daniels allegations. Yes please.

Courtesy of TPM: 

President Donald Trump is reportedly mulling over whether to maintain his silence on his alleged pre-presidency affairs with porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday. 

WSJ reports that Trump, who has previously denied the allegations, privately discussed with his advisers about the possibility of “publicly” fighting the allegations “on Twitter or elsewhere.”

Trump’s advisers reportedly assured him that “there is no sign the allegations are hurting him with voters” and that fighting back publicly “would look inappropriate for the President to engage in a public spat with.”

Please, what do lawyers know?

They should just let Trump be Trump.  Right?

Trump is also apparently telling people behind the scenes that this whole Stormy Daniels thing is nothing more than a political hoax. 

For his part Daniels' attorney is ready to throw down hard.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:

“The president may be able to fire Mr. [Robert] Mueller and others who may challenge him, but he cannot fire me, or my client. We will not be going away any time soon,” Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ attorney, told The Daily Beast. “If they [in Trumpworld] are upset about what has transpired over the last two weeks, they are really going to be upset when they see what is going to transpire over the next few months—because the last two weeks haven’t been a warm-up lap.”

And Trump is actually very worried.

Inside the chronically chaos-driven Trump White House, Stormy Daniels is a high-profile hassle and headache that now must be managed on a daily basis. According to two sources familiar with the situation, the White House press operation has at least one person whose job it is to monitor the latest developments on the Daniels front.

As well he should be.

Note: (a) not all of our evidence will be mentioned/displayed tonight – that would be foolish; (b) we are not sure what CBS will include but we know a lot from the full interview will have to be cut bc of the time allowed; (c) tonight is not the end – it’s the beginning. #basta

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 25, 2018

Now THAT is the kind of lawyer Trump wishes he could get on his Russia legal team.

Still if Trump is such a bad ass then let him tackle this thing head on.

After all if he is going to be such a pussy about it then perhaps he will have to start grabbing himself.

All I know is that at around 6:00 PM Alaska time, I am going to be watching a certain porn star screw the president of the United States on national television.

If you do not want to wait that long here is a transcript of what she will say.

Figuratively speaking of course.

Here is a key portion:  

Anderson Cooper: He was showing you his own picture on the cover of a magazine. 

Stormy Daniels: Right, right. And so I was like, "Does this-- does this normally work for you?" And he looked very taken-- taken back, like, he didn't really understand what I was saying. Like, I was-- does, just, you know, talking about yourself normally work?" And I was like, "Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it." (LAUGH) And I'll never forget the look on his face. He was like-- 

Anderson Cooper: What-- what was his look? 

Stormy Daniels: Just, I don't think anyone's ever spoken to him like that, especially, you know, a young woman who looked like me. And I said, you know, "Give me that," and I just remember him going, "You wouldn't." "Hand it over." And-- so he did, and I was like, turn around, drop 'em." 

Anderson Cooper: You-- you told Donald Trump to turn around and take off his pants. 

Stormy Daniels: Yes. 

Anderson Cooper: And did he? 

Stormy Daniels: Yes. So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little -- you know had underwear on and stuff and I just gave him a couple swats.

Oh that is not going to go over very well with his base. 

Here is that CNN interview with former Playmate Karen McDougal concerning her affair with Donald Trump. Yes, it's icky.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

The former Playboy model Karen McDougal gave her first television interview about the affair she alleges she had with Donald J. Trump more than a decade ago, saying that he offered her money after their first sexual encounter. 

“After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually did not take that,” she told Anderson Cooper of CNN in an interview broadcast on Thursday night. “I looked at him and said, ‘That’s not me, I’m not that kind of girl.’” 

As a security aide of Mr. Trump’s drove her home, she said, “I started crying, I was really sad — it really hurt me.” 

But, she said, in spite of that encounter in 2006, “I went back,” conducting what she described as a 10-month, serious relationship that she finally ended when she could no longer bear the guilt of betraying Mr. Trump’s wife then-new wife, Melania.

You would probably think that if you were not a prostitute and somebody offered you money as if you were one, that you would be too humiliated to see that person again.

However not in McDougal's case.

According to the ex-Playmate she continued to see Trump for about ten months, and had unprotected sex with him dozens and dozens of times. 

According to McDougal this was not just a sexual affair but an affair of the heart, where both parties told the other that they loved them.

McDougal even seemed to think that the relationship would grow into something more.

She seemed to believe that she was destined to be Mrs. Donald Trump number four.

So of course Trump compared her to his number one love:

Ms. McDougal said Mr. Trump had compared her, favorably, to his daughter. “He said I was beautiful like her and, ‘You’re a smart girl,’” she said.

You may remember that Trump also compared Stormy Daniels to Ivanka. Which apparently is his idea of the ultimate compliment to his mistresses.

Make of that what you will.

Kellyanne Conway returns to Saturday Night Live.

I am posting this simply because I love it so much.

I am in fact a huge fan of Stephen King, and just recently watched the movie "It," so this made me laugh out loud.

Kellyanne Conway as Pennywise seems almost too perfect.

Oh, I almost forgot, Alec Baldwin was back as well.

This impersonation is becoming so accurate it's almost scary.

Sally Yates does her first sit down interview since being fired with Anderson Cooper tonight.

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates tells @AC360 that the Russians had "real leverage" over Michael Flynn https://t.co/oQtwNi4BFO pic.twitter.com/SE4OfAoMBU

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 16, 2017

Well I know what I am going to be riveted to this evening.

Here is more courtesy of Politico:

The Russian government had “real leverage” over former national security adviser Michael Flynn when he was fired by President Donald Trump, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said in an interview that aired Tuesday morning. 

Yates informed the White House that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about the nature of conversations he had had with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., information she delivered shortly before she was fired over her unwillingness to defend the president’s executive order banning individuals from certain majority-Muslim nations from entering the nation.

Yates denied an allegation from the president that it was she who had leaked the information regarding Flynn to the Post, telling Cooper that she had never leaked classified information to the newspaper nor had she authorized anyone else to do so. She also said that Flynn’s actions were potentially criminal in nature, even though White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said that the former national security adviser was let go because of a “trust issue” and not over legal concerns. 

“I don't know how the white house reached the conclusion there was no legal issue,” she said. “It certainly wasn't from my discussion with them.” 

I think Yates may have been the first official to understand that the Trump folks had a very suspicious relationship with Russia.

And now of course we all know that.

Yates also said this is in an interview with The New Yorker:  

Yates declined to talk about any classified information, including underlying evidence in the Flynn case, but it seems clear that Flynn’s name was not masked in the reports on the phone call that she saw. She said, “I oftentimes would get intel reports that included the name of the U.S. person. Not because I or anybody else had asked for it to be unmasked, but because that intelligence only made sense if you knew who the identity of the U.S. person was, and that’s an exception to the minimization requirements.” In other words, the authors of these intelligence reports included the names, because the reports could not be understood without them. She noted that there was one other common instance in which an American’s name would be included: “If it’s evidence of a crime.” 

Yates said that she never made an unmasking request, adding, “This idea that there’s this dramatic unmasking of a name—in my experience, that never happened.”

Just another made up conspiracy by the Republicans to provide cover for an actual scandal by one of their own. 

Carl Bernstein states that the FBI believes the Trump Administration is attempting an "active coverup" to interfere with investigation into collusion with Russia.

Courtesy of Mediaite:

If Carl Bernstein knows anything, he knows how anonymous sources can reveal how a high-level criminal cover-up can take an administration down. So when he stated that the FBI had a “serious belief” that there was an “active coverup” in the alleged coordination/collusion between the Trump campaign and a Russian effort to reveal the election last night on AC360, we take notice. 

In a remarkably entertaining segment pegged to a CNN’s recent report, Bernstein dropped some knowledge about FBI suspicions. According the the Watergate legend, intelligence suggests that Russia tried to use advisers of Donald Trump to penetrate the presidential campaign. 

Can you believe that Jason Miller douchnozzle actually brought up Susan Rice's name?

You might remember Miller as the former Trump transition spokesman who was forced to quit his job after his affair with another Trump spokesperson came to light.

A.J. Delgado and Jason Miller, naughty, naughty, naughty.

Going back to what Carl Bernstein said that is a fairly explosive revelation and fits in well with another recent report that Trump associates had changed their behaviors when they found out about the FBI investigation.

If the FBI has evidence that they are actively involved in a coverup that could be perhaps even more damaging than the evidence of communicating with the Russians during the campaign.

Which reminds me of another lesson learned during Watergate, "It's not the crime, it's the coverup."

Melania Trump blames the "grab them by the pu**y" tape on Billy Bush who she blames for "egg on" her husband.

Courtesy of CNN:

Melania Trump defended Donald Trump in her first interview since the Republican nominee faced allegations of sexual misconduct, calling those accusations "lies" and saying Trump was "egged on" into "boy talk" during a 2005 tape in which he made lewd comments about women. "I believe my husband. 

I believe my husband," she said in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday. 

"This was all organized from the opposition. And with the details ... did they ever check the background of these women? They don't have any facts." 

She also said she hadn't heard her husband use that kind of language before. 

"No. No, that's why I was surprised, because I said like I don't know that person that would talk that way, and that he would say that kind of stuff in private," Melania Trump said. 

"I heard many different stuff -- boys talk," she said. "The boys, the way they talk when they grow up and they want to sometimes show each other, 'Oh, this and that' and talking about the girls. But yes, I was surprised, of course."

So if Donald Trump can be "egg on" into saying terrible things like this about women, what could Vladimir Putin egg him on to do?

At one point Melania also suggested that Trump did not realize that the mic was on, as if that was not kind of the point of the entire leaked tape.

Of course he did not know it was on, he thought he was talking privately, which indicates that this is how he talks when he thinks nobody will ever know about it.

Oh, and by the way, this was not "boys talk."

This is how rapists talk. Not boys.

Perhaps Melania simply never had the opportunity to learn the difference.

Donald Trump knows he is going to lose these upcoming debates so he is already claiming they are biased against him.

It's unfair. They want to ask me questions. I don't know how to answer actual questions!

Courtesy of Yahoo:

Debate organizers are “gaming the system” with Democratic moderators who will savage him to spare themselves the kind of criticism Matt Lauer got for his moderation of NBC’s Commander-in-Chief Forum, Donald Trump tells FNC’s Bill O’Reilly tonight. 

“What they are doing is they are gaming the system, like gaming the ref,” Trump told The O’Reilly Factor host as the GOP candidate continues his campaign to manage expectations for the upcoming debates with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. “They are also going after Lester. They’re trying to intimidate Lester and I think the world is going to be watching that…Lester is a professional, but we’ll see what happens.” 

“By the way, Lester is a Democrat. It’s a phony system. They are all Democrats. It’s a very unfair system.” 

“I’m not okay with Anderson Cooper, because I think he treats me very unfairly at CNN,” Trump said of the second debate moderator. He did not seem to have an opinion on ABC’s Martha Raddatz, who is co-moderating the second, town-hall style debate with Cooper. 

Cooper, says Trump, is “very unfair on CNN. I think CNN – they call it the Clinton News Network. That’s why the ratings aren’t doing very well because who’s going to watch that?”

Fucking pansy ass.

He KNOWS Hillary is going to mop the floor with him so he is saying the game is rigged against him so that his pathetic follows, who don't trust the media anyhow, will buy into his bullshit about the "liberal" media favoring his opponent.

I don't think he was judged the winner after a single one of those Republican debates by the way.

He just went on Twitter afterward and said something ignorant so that the media would talk about that instead of the fact that he debates like a mentally handicapped middle school kid with Tourrette Syndrome.

Organizer of armed protest outside of Phoenix mosque admits that he is playing right into the hands of ISIS.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

CNN host Anderson Cooper pushed the ex-Marine Corps member on Thursday who organized what he insists is a non-violent protest at a Phoenix mosque supporting “freedom of speech.” 

“You don’t think bringing guns to a mosque while families are praying inside, wearing t-shirts that say ‘F Islam’ and shouting whatever it is you’re going to shot at them, as they come and as they go — you don’t think that’s promoting violence at all?” Cooper asked Jon Ritzheimer, who has promoted the event by announcing a “Draw Muhammed” contest, which would violate Islamic teachings banning depictions of the Muslim prophet. 

“I think the whole thing — the cartoon contest, especially — I think it’s stupid and ridiculous,” Ritzheimer conceded. “But it’s what needs to take place in order to expose the true colors of Islam.”

After quite a bit of back and forth Anderson Cooper corners Mr. Ritzheimer and asks him this:  

“Aren’t you playing into their hands?” Cooper asked Ritzheimer, following up on Mudd’s point. 

“Isn’t this exactly the reaction and the message that terrorists want?” 

“Sure,” Ritzheimer said. 

“So you’re playing into ISIS and al Qaeda hands,” Cooper said. “Do you feel good about that?” 

“I’m just doing what I have to do to make sure that my children have a good future,” Ritzheimer replied.

I have NO idea how attempting to incite a violent reaction is going to help this man protect his children.

And in fact it must not have, because this protest took place yesterday, and though there was no violence Ritzheimer has become so terrified from death threats that he claimed to have received that he has now gone into hiding. 

And once again I completely support the idea of exercising freedom of speech in this country, and challenging ALL religions, but this, much like the Pam Gellar event from before, is nothing more than a publicity stunt and an attempt to anger people into doing something violent in order to prove a point.

Here is how Hermant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, describes his feelings: 

I don’t support this event. I hope you don’t either. Ritzheimer has no obligation to listen to me, but I can at least condemn his actions. There’s no higher principle at work here. If there was, he wouldn’t need to resort to these shock-jock tactics. The only thing he’ll accomplish is pissing off Muslims (and plenty of non-Muslims) without creating the conversation he claims this is really all about.

That's pretty much the page I am on as well. 

Of course we should not allow ourselves to be intimidated by threats of violence, but we should also not lower ourselves to trolling extremists in the hopes they will injure or kill somebody in order to attract media attention.

Rudy Giuliani claims that since he claimed that President Obama does not love America he has been receiving death threats. Okay, really?

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

CNN reporter Jim Acosta spoke with Rudy Giuliani over the phone earlier today and told Anderson Cooper that the former New York mayor claimed he’s been getting death threats after his controversial remarks about whether President Obama loves America. 

Giuliani, of course, said earlier this week that he doesn’t think Obama loves this country because he criticizes it so much, has a different worldview than past presidents, and rarely talks about the good things in America. And as Giuliani told Acosta tonight, “I don’t regret making the statement. I believe it. I don’t know if he loves America.”

Apparently Guiliani  claimed that "his office" had received "multiple" death threats, however CNN could not confirm that, and Guiliani did not say whether or not he had notified the police.

Call me a cynic, but I have a hard time believing this.

First off who exactly would be threatening Guiliani over these comments, and what would be the goal?

And secondly I have heard so many conservatives cry wolf like this, including our favorite Miss Quitty pants, that I have a very hard time taking it seriously.

Simply put I would not put it past the former mayor to play the victim card in order to gain a little sympathy after saying spouting his bullshit about the President.

Watch CNN's Anderson Cooper take on Texas Republican lawmaker over the GOP's embrace of reparative therapy.

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:  

Cooper spoke with state Rep. Bryan Hughes, who has voted for the platform that for years has contained vicious anti-gay rhetoric. Hughes explained that the Texas GOP added support for “ex-gay” therapy after one delegate’s neighbor expressed concern lawmakers might make it illegal. 

“The language is in the platform because we want to make sure that people have rights,” Hughes offers as a reason to support ineffective and harmful “reparative” therapy. “We heard from people who wanted access to that kind of counseling, that kind of therapy, and so we believe in free speech, in free choice.” (Unless of course that free choice means they will choose to be gay, in which case Texas will counsel the crap out of them until they claim to like the opposite sex again.)

“This is about giving people choices,” Hughes claims. “If they want this, it should be available to them.” No discussion of access to abortion services came up. 

Hughes tried to claim there is “medical literature on both sides of the issue,” which Cooper blasted. 

“It’s really just not accurate to say that doctors are evenly divided,” Cooper said. “I could give you a list: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselors’ Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers. They represent half a million mental health professionals, they all say this is not a mental disorder. It’s not something that needs to be cured.” 

Cooper even slammed Hughes’ claim that people on both sides testified before the platform committee as “not true.” Hughes could not state who testified against the plank. 

“Does it concern you, again, that your party is now backing a form of therapy which basically every major medical organization says doesn’t work, can be harmful, and which many of the people who have been through it say it doesn’t work and is bad for kids?” Cooper asked Hughes. 

“No one is saying that God doesn’t love people as they are,” Hughes told Cooper, in response to a clip of former Exodus International president Alan Chambers’ disavowal of “ex-gay” therapy. “There’s nothing in the platform about that. No one is trying to take that position. Every one of us makes mistakes, makes decisions we’re not proud of. God loves each one of us, and he offers us a way for us to deal with sin and bad choices. But I do strongly disagree with what he said about God not loving people.” 

“The fact that you view being gay — or you characterize it — as a ‘mistake,’ or something that should be changed really kind of maybe says more about your position than what your words actually say,” Cooper pointed out.

You know with the possible exception of Rachel Maddow or Ellen Degeneres, I don't think I would rather see ANYBODY take apart homophobic Republicans more than Anderson Cooper.

He is so very professional as he picks apart their argument and all but calls them hate mongering bullies.

And personally I think the fact that he is openly gay just makes that much more effective. 

I don't watch CNN that much anymore, but this segment of Anderson Cooper responding to a bunch of Texas female talk show hosts arguing about the Michael Sam kiss is pretty darn good.

Nicely done.

New survey of newscasters finds Chris Matthews to be the least likeable. Yeah, I can see that.

Courtesy of The Wrap: 

Pelley's 19 Positive Q Score, which measures likeability, helped him just beat the No. 2 guy, CNN's Anderson Cooper, who had an 18. Cooper's 56 Recognizability score places him among the highest on this list. 

“Hardball” host Chris Matthews struck out with the lowest likeability score of all. 

To create Q Scores, executive vice president Henry Schafer and his team provides a personality's name and a brief description to more than 1,800 viewers. The viewers are asked if they recognize the person, and how they feel about him or her. 

Compared to other TV personalities — from late-night hosts to morning hosts — newscasters tend to be less recognizable and less liked. 

While I am gratified to see that Rachel Maddow,  Tamron Hall, and Thomas Roberts from MSNBC all placed higher than anybody from Fox I am very displeased to see Lara Logan at number three.

Didn't anybody see her disastrous Benghazi debacle?

I think her entire likeability factor is based on the fact that horny men are fantasizing about having sex with her. Buncha pigs!

And as much as I want to come to the defense of my MSNBC brothers and sisters I simply CANNOT disagree with placing tweety at the bottom of the pile.

The man simply cannot stop interrupting his guests and making stupid comments.

Matthews has done some great reporting, and was called out a number of politicians on their crap, but he is incredibly hard to watch sometimes. Though I would still watch him over Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity ANY day.

Actually if you are looking for the most annoying MSNBC host, that honor should go to Ronan Farrow. I am not even exaggerating that he is the only MSNBC personality who has irritated me enough that I have switched to Fox News instead. True story.

Zimmerman juror eagerly claims her fifteen minutes of fame, even while trying to protect her identity.

Courtesy of the Atlantic: 

One of the six jurors who decided to acquit George Zimmerman of the charges against him for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin spoke to Anderson Cooper on Monday evening. In short, the juror more or less completely believed Zimmerman's version of events. It was Zimmerman's voice screaming for help heard over the 911 call, she told Cooper. And she does not believe that race played a role in Zimmerman's assessment of Martin. Overall, her take on Zimmerman himself was very sympathetic. 

Juror B37 sat across from Anderson Cooper, with her face in darkness. She told Cooper that she hadn't been following the trial, or story, "at all" before become one of the six jurors in the trial. During her interview, she referred to George Zimmerman as "George," and Trayvon Martin as "Trayvon." Overall, she found the evidence presented more interesting than the testimony. 

The first vote during deliberations among the 6-woman jury on the verdict, the juror said, was 3 not guilty; 2 manslaughter; 1 second-degree murder. The juror was one of the three not guilty votes. The juror said that she initially found the law surrounding the case "very confusing," specifically referring to the last-minute addition of manslaughter to the charges they were to consider against Zimmerman. "there was a couple in there who wanted to find him guilty of something," she said, but that neither of the options on the table, second-degree murder or manslaughter, were feasibly options given the way they read state law. 

This juror, number B37, is also the one that had, at least temporarily, a book deal.

Here are a few nuggets that came out of this interview.

Newly out of the closet teen meets his idol, George Takei.

Just a few days ago Jacob Rudolph had come out to his class while accepting an award as best "class actor" in front of his classmates:  

When Jacob Rudolph received the award for "class actor" at his high school, the New Jersey teenager took the opportunity to make a real-life announcement. "I've been acting every single day of my life," he said. "You see me acting the part of 'straight' Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT." He then defined the acronym, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Jacob's father says Jacob is still exploring whether he's exclusively attracted to one sex and used that acronym out of solidarity. Jacob's classmates gave him a standing ovation, and his father — who helped edit his speech before posting the video to YouTube — said it took "more guts than anything I've ever attempted in my life." 

The other day when being interviewed by Anderson Cooper Jacob  received the surprise of his life.

You know we have to always remind ourselves that we are not just fighting for equal rights for ourselves and our loved ones, we are also acting as role models for those who will carry on the fight going forward.

What was improbable yesterday, is possible today, and ubiquitous tomorrow.

Anderson Cooper calls Bristol Palin a "genius" for faking her rehearsal meltdown. I could NOT have heard that right!

Of course then both he and Deborah Norville make fun of the fact that Bristol tweets during her "meltdown" and that she has had so much plastic surgery that her face does not register any emotion, so that totally redeems Anderson in my eyes.

However for future reference NOBODY should ever use the name "Bristol Palin" and "genius" together in the same sentence. Ever!

Anderson Cooper "The fact is I'm gay."

Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan:  

I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand. 

The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud. 

I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don't think it's anyone else's business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don't give that up by being a journalist.

This CANNOT come as much of surprise to most people, but I am still impressed that Cooper has decided to simply announce the obvious, get the whole thing behind him, and then focus on doing what he does best, report the news.

Personally I think that Anderson Cooper is possibly the best thing that CNN still has going for them, especially after they made that dramatic shift to the Right in order to attract Fox viewers. (Which of course is ridiculous since most of them are not allowed to change the station on the dayroom television in their old folks home/mental health facility.)

Well now that Anderson Cooper is out I wonder who will be next?

I'm looking at you Shepherd Smith. Come on buddy! You can do it!

In middle of GOP debate Mitt Romney and Rick Perry suddenly get all pre-school on each other's ass!

Now before I start getting complaints just let me say that, yes I am aware that preschoolers are far more respectful of each other, and that they demonstrate higher functioning social skills than either Perry or Romney, but it was just the best term I could come up with that seemed to fit the pathetic cry-baby antics I was watching.

Though to be fair I thought that Mitt won that exchange even though he did not respect little Rickie's personal space. At least he tried to use his inside voice, and did tell an adult (Anderson Cooper) that Perry was acting like a butthead.

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Bill Maher: "Republicanism has become a religion." I have to say that makes perfect sense to me.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

HBO’s Bill Maher told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday that “as a sane person,” it was tough to watch the Republican presidential candidates debate.

“Republicanism has — it’s really become a religion,” he noted. “And when I say religion, I mean they just have a series of baseless assertions that they cleave to, you know, and it’s like, if there was just one sane person in that room to give perspective, but there wasn’t.”

You know thinking about the Republican party in this way suddenly makes every crazy thing they do make sense.

This is why the Republicans are constantly talking about faith and values.  They are not talking about Christian faith and values, they are talking about the Church of Republicanism's faith and values.

Which apparently simply refers to an ability to suspend intellectual thought, ignore the suffering of the less fortunate, put the needs of the unborn before the needs of the living, and embrace a level of hypocrisy that would make Jesus weep.

I would imagine that the deity they worship is no longer the God of the Old Testament, but rather a mythologized version of Ronald Reagan.

Today must be the day for video smackdowns as Anderson Cooper schools Dr. Laura concerning her claims of "victimhood."