Seth Meyers Recaps This Week’s Political Blunders from Trump, Howard Dean, and Gary Johnson – WATCH

On Thursday, Seth Meyers took a closer look at this week’s political blunders.

Laying into Donald Trump’s debate performance, Meyers ripped Trump and his son Eric for suggesting it was courageous to not mention Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs during the debate.

“Yes, how courageous,” Meyers quipped. “He didn’t attack Hillary for her husband’s affairs. What a hero. Someone should give Donald Trump a trophy. Oh, right. He already has one.” Meyers then showed an image of Donald with his wife Melania.

Just for fun, Meyers also reveled in how Hillary burned Trump for having humiliated and fat-shamed former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Referring to Hillary’s line that Donald ‘likes to hang around beauty pageants,’ Meyers joked, “There’s really nothing creepier than a guy who hangs around beauty pageants.”

RELATED: Alicia Machado Responds to Trump’s ‘Sex Tape’ Attacks in Spanish, on Instagram

As for former DNC chairman Howard Dean’s suggestion that Donald Trump is a coke user, Meyers said, “Also you can’t call Donald Trump a coke head. If you do he’ll take it one step further. ‘Some people are saying Hillary and El Chapo are the same person.’”

Then there was Gary ‘What is Aleppo?’ Johnson. Meyers first referred to an interview Johnson did with MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt in which he bit his tongue while talking to make a point that all he would have to do is show up at a presidential debate to gain traction in national polls. Meyers joked, “Maybe next time, only eat half the brownie before you do an interview.” Johnson is an advocate for marijuana legalization.

Meyers also skewered Johnson for his disastrous performance in a town hall with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. If you thought he would be more prepared to discuss foreign policy after failing to know that Aleppo is the center of the refugee crisis in Syria, you’d be wrong.

PREVIOUSLY: Seth Meyers Moderated the Second Presidential Debate, Asked Trump, ‘How’s Your Penis?’ – WATCH

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is struggling to gain support from millennial voters, leaving many to wonder if Bernie Sanders could have done more to get them behind Clinton. But it’s not so simple, Meyers explained: “What’s everyone expecting of Bernie? He’ll take out his flute and the millennials will flock to his side?”

Watch, below.

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Seth Meyers Recaps This Week’s Political Blunders from Trump, Howard Dean, and Gary Johnson – WATCH

AL Chief Justice Roy Moore Suspended Without Pay for Remainder of Term Over Gay Marriage Order

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended without pay for the remainder of his term after being found guilty by The Alabama Court of the Judiciary (COJ) on judicial ethics charges stemming from his defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage.

Moore, who has been defying the federal government since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, was suspended in May and charged with violating ethical rules for trying to stop probate judges from issuing marriage licenses in the state.

AL.com reports:

“For these violations, Chief Justice Moore is hereby suspended from office without pay for the remainder of his term. This suspension is effective immediately,” the order stated.

The court found him guilty of all six charges of violation of canon of judicial ethics. Moore’s term is to end in 2019. Gov. Robert Bentley will name a replacement for Moore. Moore was tried Wednesday before the COJ on the six charges that claimed he violated canons of judicial ethics regarding that Jan. 6 administrative order to the state’s 68 probate judges.

In January, Moore issued an order prohibiting 68 probate judges from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples telling them they had a “ministerial duty” to do so.

In his order, Moore actually cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling. Moore claimed that the high court’s ruling only applied to Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, the states directly involved in Obergefell.

In March, the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed a series of petitions asking it to declare that the state’s ban on gay marriage is still in effect.

That decision meant anti-gay foes like the Alabama Policy Institute were out of legal options to try and fight the SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage in Obergefell. However, that fact didn’t stop Chief Justice Roy Moore from writing a scathing rebuke of Obergefell and insisting that the state’s ban on gay marriage was still in effect.

Watch the closing arguments at the judicial ethics trial for Moore:

The Guardian noted earlier this week that Moore has to be looking ahead to his next chapter which may be running for governor:

Moore has picked a political fight that may not make sense to people elsewhere. But in Alabama, his intentions are clear: by carrying his fight against the federal government to the brink of judicial destruction, he is appealing to the rebellious nature of Alabamians and positioning himself to run for governor.

The stakes are high for him. He will turn 70 in February, which means he will not be allowed to run for a supreme court spot during the next election, in 2018. And as the sitting chief justice, he has no power to change the trajectory of gay marriage, the issue that brought him to this point. So the worst punishment the Alabama court of judiciary – a court for judges – could inflict on him would be to allow him to serve out his term, fading into obscurity as neither martyr nor decision-maker.

“That’s the irony,” said Wayne Flynt, a historian at Auburn University. “He needs them to remove him.”

Shortly after the Obergefell ruling, Moore predicted all-out war over it.

Moore said that same-sex marriage would lead to the “persecution” of Christians who would be forced to “accept evil” and “condone sodomy.” He also said it would lead to a massive and possibly violent backlash and claimed that the founding fathers would be “incensed” at the SCOTUS decision, calling the Court a tyrannical force trampling on freedom.

Moore said he saw his battle as a holy one:

“God gives rights and the government’s role is to secure those rights. When governments [sic] dismisses god out of the equation and pretends to get rights, we suffer accordingly.

“I think that’s where we were in 1776 and if government is not securing the rights god gave us….[same-sex marriage] is not really securing it, is it?”

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AL Chief Justice Roy Moore Suspended Without Pay for Remainder of Term Over Gay Marriage Order

UN Appoints First-Ever Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Today the United Nations (U.N.) officially appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn of Thailand to serve as its first-ever Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. After a vote at the U.N. Human Rights Council to create this position in June, the Council launched a search for qualified candidates that resulted in today’s approval of Muntarbhorn.

“This is a huge step forward for LGBTQ human rights worldwide,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global. “Professor Muntarbhorn brings a wealth of experience to this position and will help to ensure that the U.N. follows through on its commitments to combating violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people.”

Muntarbhorn is a Professor Emeritus of Law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand and has worked on a variety of human rights issues – including as the co-chair of the committee that drafted the 2006 Yogyakarta Principles on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity. He has also served in several high level roles at the U.N., including Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Special Rapporteur on North Korea and technical adviser to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on LGBTQ issues in Asia.

As HRC reported in June following the Human Rights Council vote, the new independent expert will assess the state of LGBTQ human rights, liaise with LGBTQ advocates and allies around the world and engage with governments and civil society to make recommendations for combating violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people. In addition, the expert will serve as a bridge between the U.N. Human Rights Council and the organization’s General Assembly, and be empowered to issue private communications to governments, including in emergency situations.

In today’s decision, representatives from Saudi Arabia, speaking for the states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (excluding Albania), and Russia noted that they opposed the appointment of the Independent Expert, and their countries would not cooperate with the position.

“We look forward to working with Professor Muntarbhorn to ensure he can be as successful as possible and establish the position on strong footing for the future,” said Cobb. “An expert like this can have enormous impact and we look forward to ensuring that Muntarbhorn has the support he needs to protect the human rights and dignity of LGBTQ people around the world.”

Photo: Edmund Settle

www.hrc.org/blog/un-appoints-first-ever-independent-expert-on-sexual-orientation-and-gender?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Victory in Alabama: Anti-LGBTQ Chief Justice Roy Moore Suspended from AL Supreme Court

Today, HRC hailed a decision by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary to suspend anti-LGBTQ Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore from the bench for the remainder of his term, due to his unethical and extralegal actions surrounding marriage equality. Moore will remain on the bench, but will not receive a salary and he will be unable to make any legal decisions. Moore’s term is up in 2018, and he will be unable to run for the office of Supreme Court justice again in Alabama as he will be past the office’s age restriction. The nine-member Court of the Judiciary found Moore unanimously guilty of all six charges brought against him.

“Roy Moore has flagrantly and willfully attempted to block marriage equality at every turn in Alabama, using his position of power to push a personal, radically anti-LGBTQ agenda. We are thrilled that justice has been done today and he will no longer be able to use the bench to discriminate against people he had taken an oath to protect,” said Eva Kendrick, state manager for the Human Rights Campaign, Alabama. “Roy Moore’s bigoted rhetoric and unethical actions harmed LGBTQ Alabamians and emboldened those who would seek to hurt us further. We hope this is a turning point for our state. We must focus on electing politicians and judges who will move us forward, not backward.”

Earlier this year, HRC Alabama initiated the #NoMoore campaign to remove Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court for his blatant legal and ethical failings. HRC Alabama called out Moore’s discriminatory behavior with a billboard in downtown Montgomery, and held rallies and press conferences outside each of Moore’s ethics hearings — including Wednesday’s final hearing. This marks the second time Moore has faced negative consequences for pushing his personal agenda from the state’s highest court.

Last year, HRC and other civil rights organizations joined the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) ethics complaint with the Judicial Inquiry Commission of Alabama, seeking Moore’s removal for violating the obligations of his office. The complaint details Moore’s blatant disregard for the law, including communications in which he urges Governor Robert Bentley and members of the Alabama  Probate Judges Association to ignore federal court rulings striking down the state’s ban on marriage equality.

In 2014, HRC launched Project One America, an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. HRC Alabama continues to work to advance equality for LGBTQ Alabamians who have no state level protections in housing, workplace, or public accommodations. Through HRC Alabama, we are working toward a future of fairness every day — changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.

www.hrc.org/blog/victory-in-alabama-anti-lgbtq-chief-justice-roy-moore-suspended-from-al-sup?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

HRC Mississippi Attends University of Southern Mississippi Voter Forum

Post submitted by Harry Hawkins, Field Organizer HRC Mississippi

On Wednesday, I took part in a Voter Education Forum at the University of Southern Mississippi. The event, which the Student Association of Social Workers hosted, showed the documentary film, “Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot.” After the film, I had a chance to address the students about the importance of their vote in this election. I also used this time to address the LGBTQ students in the audience about how we must vote not only to preserve the rights that we have achieved over these last eight years, but to ensure we will have a president who will continue to advocate for the LGBTQ community every day.

There is so much at stake for the LGBTQ community in the 2016 presidential election. Think of all the progress we’ve made under President Obama’s leadership and what could be rolled back. Have you registered to vote yet? The deadline is approaching — click here to register in your state. Also, check out our Vote Equality 2016 program to learn to take the pledge to support pro-LGBTQ candidates and receive important election updates from us.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-mississippi-attends-university-of-southern-mississippi-voter-forum?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

ACC Moving Championship to Orlando in Protest of N.C.’s Anti-LGBT Law

The connection between Pulse and House Bill 2 is “impossible to ignore,” wrote SB Nation. 

www.advocate.com/sports/2016/9/30/acc-moving-championship-orlando-protest-ncs-anti-lgbt-law

Married Conservative Politician Outed For Sexting Teen Boy, Kissing Him In Mall Bathroom

Ruh-roh! A married conservative politician from Louisiana has been outed for allegedly having a teenage boyfriend.

According to his Twitter profile, Republican Mike Yenni is “the President of Jefferson Parish and happily married with one daughter.” But according to the several unnamed sources, he’s a closet case who has been sending some rather racy texts to a teen boy he met at a Catholic high school function while on the campaign trail last year.

Related: Antigay Politician Caught In Sex Scandal Can’t Stop Talking In Circles, Refuses To Resign

40-year-old Yenni and the teen, who was 17 at the time and whose name has not been released, were allegedly connected with each other by a mutual friend. The teen says he and Yenni, who was the Republican mayor of Kenner at the time, the city neighboring New Orleans, would talk on the phone and text one another regularly.

As Yenni and the teen’s relationship deepened, the politician would occasionally visit the young man at his job at a mall food court. Once, he says, they met in the mall bathroom where the teen says Yenni gave him a pair of designer underwear. Afterwards, they shared a kiss.

The texting continued, becoming more and more explicit as time progressed. In one of the texts, Yenni tells the teen that he “wants him naked.” In another, he asks if he’s worn the underwear he gave him, then says he would like him to model it for him. And in a third, he says he wants to perform a sex act on the teen that night.

While Yenni doesn’t appear to have much of a record when it comes to being for or against LGBTQ rights, he is a member of the political party that, in its most recently adopted platform, officially defines marriage as “between one man and one woman,” calls pornography harmful “especially on children,” and wants to police which restrooms trans people use in an effort to protect women and children from sexual predators. So it’s interesting, to say that least, that he would send dirty texts to a teenage boy then make out with said teenager in a mall bathroom. But we digress.

Related: Engaged Politician Admits To Hooking Up With Guys, At Center Of Sexting Scandal

The texts were provided by the teen to local news station WWL-TV on the condition that they not be directly quoted. The station verified that they did, indeed, come from Yenni’s personal cell phone, which is not billed to taxpayers.

The teen, now 19 and in college, tells WWL-TV that over time the texts started to make him uneasy, particularly one that suggested they have a threesome with the mutual friend who initially connected them.

“He asked me to go with him to his house in Oxford (Mississippi),” the youth said. “Also, the way he would describe the sexual things he wanted to do to me. And he asked me to be a secretary or assistant in his office; that way I could be with him and not be questioned.”

In June, he says he finally broke the affair off with Yenni.

According to WWL-TV, under Louisiana law, the age of consent is 17, so any sexual activity between Yenni and teen would not be illegal; however, the sexts may violate a federal law that bars the use of any telecommunications device to engage in “obscene” conversation with anyone under the age of 18.

Yenni has yet to comment on the allegations.

Related: Antigay Politician Busted For Boozing, Playing Strip Poker With Teen Boys

h/t: WWL-TV

www.queerty.com/married-conservative-politician-outed-sexting-teen-boy-kissing-mall-bathroom-20160930?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Newt Gingrich And Crowd Of Conservative Gays Have A Good Laugh About Woman’s Weight

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the keynote speaker on Wednesday at the annual conference of the Log Cabin Republicans, where he joined his fellow overweight conservative Donald Trump in throwing stones from a glass house concerning former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

Trump has a long history of denigrating women, which Hillary Clinton brought up during Monday night’s debate. She pointed to Trump’s treatment of Machado as one such example of his misogyny.

Related: The First Clinton, Trump Debate Boiled Down To Essential GIFs

Machado says Trump called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Eating Machine” when she gained some weight after winning the competition, which he owned at the time, as well as calling her “Miss Housekeeping,” a shot at her ethnicity.

“You’re not supposed to gain 60 pounds during the year that you’re Miss Universe,” Gingrich said on Wednesday, eliciting laughter. “But, not fair. Even my act of saying that is sexist and proves I’m not being sensitive.”

Of course, anyone with the ability to Google Gingrich’s past is already well aware that he is insensitive and sexist. So this comes as no surprise.

Trump is also doubling down, telling Fox News the day after the debate that she was “the worst we ever had” because she “gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem.”

He also told Bill O’Reilly, “I saved her job because they wanted to fire her for putting on so much weight. And it is a beauty contest. You know, I mean, say what you want, Bill, I mean, they know what they’re getting into. It’s a beauty contest.”

Additionally, Trump tried to say that he did not know Machado when talking with O’Reilly, contradicting what he said during his “Fox & Friends” interview.

Meanwhile, Trump is a well known fast food lover who does not seem capable of maintaining a healthy weight. And while he isn’t trying to win a beauty competition, he is looking to run the country and his health has come up as an issue. He has done his best to release as little information on that front as possible.

Related: The Sky Isn’t Falling Because 20 Percent Of LGBTQ Voters Support Trump

Here he is waxing poetic about the joys of fast food hamburgers. He really loves those things. One might even say to a dangerous degree. One might even say it’s a real problem.

Clinton released a new campaign ad featuring Machado shortly after the debate to further seize on the moment.

www.queerty.com/newt-gingrich-room-full-conservative-gays-good-laugh-womans-weight-20160930?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Alicia Machado Responds to Trump’s ‘Sex Tape’ Attacks in Spanish, on Instagram

Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado responded to fresh attacks from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a post written in Spanish, on Instagram.

As we reported earlier, Trump spent the hours between 3 am and 6 am this morning on Twitter, accusing Machado of having a sex tape and urging the public to watch it.

RELATED: In Two-Hour Twitter Rant at 3 am, Donald Trump Urges Voters to Watch a Sex Tape

Said Trump in a series of tweets:

“Anytime you see a story about me or my campaign saying “sources said,” DO NOT believe it. There are no sources, they are just made up lies!…Wow, Crooked Hillary was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an “angel” without checking her past, which is terrible!…Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con… Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?”

The Daily Beast and other outlets have investigated and have found no evidence any such tape exists.

Machado responded in a post on Instagram:

Loose translation (apologies for any mistranslation, we’ll correct):

The Republican candidate and his campaign team are again generating attacks and insults, and trying to revive slurs and false accusations about my life. All this in order to intimidate and humiliate me again.

The attacks that have emerged are cheap lies and slanders with no foundation in truth, generated with bad intentions, and spread by sensationalist media. This, of course, is not the first time that I have faced such a situation. Through his campaign of hate, the Republican candidate seeks to discredit and demoralize women, which is definitely one of his worst traits. With this, he seeks to distract attention from real problems and the fact that he is not qualified to lead this great country.

When I was a young girl, the now candidate humiliated me, insulted me publicly, disrespected me in the cruelest way. It is clear that the same actions and behavior have been repeated with other women for decades. Therefore, I will keep standing, sharing my story, my absolute support for Mrs. Clinton on behalf of women, my sisters, aunts, grandmothers, cousins, friends and the female community. I want to thank you for all the support, love and respect you have given to my career, myself as a human being and my family. I became a citizen of this great country because my daughter was born here and because I wanted to exercise my rights, including voting.

I will continue standing firm in my experience as Miss Universe. I’ve been so happy with the many kind words, and grateful for so much love. I’m focusing on my busy career, in my work as mother and I will continue taking positive steps for the Latino community, I will continue as an activist for women’s rights so we can gain the respect we deserve. I appreciate all your love and all your support again, thanks. Thousands of blessings.

The post Alicia Machado Responds to Trump’s ‘Sex Tape’ Attacks in Spanish, on Instagram appeared first on Towleroad.

Alicia Machado Responds to Trump’s ‘Sex Tape’ Attacks in Spanish, on Instagram