The first all-LGBT city council in the US

Three days ago, the city of Palm Springs in southern California became home to an elected city council that is comprised entirely of members of the LGBT community.

The country’s first all-LGBT city council will be sworn in Wednesday night at Palm Springs City Hall.

The history-making council’s newest members – Lisa Middleton, the first transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in California, and Christy Holstege, an attorney who identifies as bisexual – will be sworn in at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Palm Springs City Council.
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The weird turn that Brexit has taken

The UK political scene has been in turmoil ever since the vote to leave the European Union as to how the separation would be carried out and the costs of it. Yesterday, prime minister Theresa May, after meeting with EU leaders, announced the results of negotiations on the framework and it has stunned pretty much everyone and infuriated those who campaigned hard for the UK to leave.
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Winston Churchill: Racist, imperialist, murderer

I get angry at the routine lionization of former British prime minister Winston Churchill in the west. Among US politicians he is treated almost as a god-like figure. There is now a new film about him and I fully expect it to continue that hagiographic trend. But his image in other parts of the world, especially in the former British colonies, is far less complimentary. Hence I was glad to see this article by Ishaan Tharoor that strives to provide some balance.
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A local election worth following

You may remember Kim Davis, the clerk of a rural county in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even after the US Supreme Court said that same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional. She said that having her name on the licenses violated her religious freedom because her faith did not allow for same-sex marriages. She then defied a local judge who explicitly ordered her to issue the licenses and she went to jail for five days for contempt of court while her subordinates issued licenses. Naturally Davis became a hero to the most odious religious bigots and groups such as the Family Research Council, and people like the Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz went to greet her at a rally when she was released from jail.
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Republicans don’t even bother to hide their contempt for the poor anymore

The Republicans have the votes to pass the big tax giveaways to the rich that they have long been salivating over. It has always been thus but at least in the past, they tried to create a façade of how these moves would also help the poor and middle class, though they could not maintain that pretense as well as some Democrats, especially Bill Clinton who was a master at the game of catering to the oligarchy while acting like he was a champion of the poor.
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Brilliant one-minute film about a prepper

‘Prepper’ is the name given to those people who take extensive precautions to survive in the case of a major calamity such as nuclear war breaking out or the US being invaded and taken over by (say) Costa Rica or electing a socialist lesbian of color as president. These precautions take the form of heavily arming themselves, creating well-stocked bunkers, and learning skills that will enable them to survive in the wild and live off the land.
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Is Donald Trump really going crazy?

Seth Meyers reveals the revolting things that Matt Lauer did and also discusses the possibility that Trump is nuts.

It is incredible that Lauer got away with that behavior so long. Like others, Meyers has noted the detail that Lauer had a secret button installed under his desk that would lock the door remotely. Observers seem to think that this was to prevent his target from escaping by running from the room. That may be true but I think it is more likely that it was to prevent others from accidentally entering and seeing him while he was making his gross moves on the women. This detail also raises broader culpability questions for NBC. I doubt that Lauer did the secret wiring himself. It had to be something that was requested through management and directed to the building manager to implement. How come no one raised any questions about the reasons for this strange request?
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