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Poor Lester Holt. If anyone of the estimated 100,000,000 viewers of the first Clinton-Trump Presidential debate expected that he would be able to actually control what ultimately was the most unconventional of this kind of leadership platform, they were disappointed. While his questions were relevant enough, the answers he received were not.

At first, he asked about creating jobs, and received predictable answers. Clinton wants to created more for the middle class while increasing wages that women earn. Trump wants to keep jobs from leaving the country, claiming “ Ford is leaving, you see that their small car division, leaving…thousands of jobs are leaving Michigan, leaving Ohio, they’re all leaving.”

Hello: Lester Holt where were you? Unemployment in Michigan is 4.5%; Ohio’s unemployment is 4.7%–both better than the national average. And Ford CEO Mark Fields says zero jobs will be lost in Michigan because Ford will build two new vehicles at that plant. 

When Lester Holt finally did speak, he asked Trump just how he planned on bringing back those “thousands of jobs,” even though technically, the jobs haven’t left.

Trump pointed to the fact that he intended to tax products that American companies make overseas before he would allow them to be brought back into this country. Holt did not make him explain that America has only 5% of the population, or that the other 95% of the rest of the world have buyers as well.

At this moment, it was clear that Lester Holt was going to allow no-truths to go unchallenged. Certainly he said nothing when, responding to a question on job creation, Clinton said that investing in clean energy would provide millions of jobs at a time when Trump claims climate change is a hoax.

“I do not,” Trump interrupted, breaking the debate rules—this first of many interruptions as he appeared to begin to unravel on the spot. “I did not say that,” he repeated. Again, Holt said nothing, instead of adding that in a speech in Hilton Head, SC, Trump precisely called global warming changed “a hoax.”

Likewise, when Trump commented “I’m a great believer in all forms of energy. But we’re putting a lot of people out of work. Our energy policies are disaster. Our country is losing so much in terms of energy, in terms of paying off our debt.”

No mention from Holt that domestic oil and gas production has increased under the Obama administration, and that the US has been the lead in US gas production since 2011 and the top producer of oil since 2013.

Clinton smiled, and occasionally laughed at comments so ridiculously off-topic and rambling that the entire point of Trump’s sentences seemed to be lost in translation, Holt was left to say “Let me interrupt for a moment” on several occasions. Unfortunately, he was ignored—another debate violation.

There were further skirmishes on Trump’s refusal to released his taxes, his incorrect denial that he would try to negotiate down the US debt, and the need for improvement on the training of police where racial profiling is concerned.

It was only when Trump responded that his solution to crime would be a return to “Stop and Frisk” that Lester Holt finally spoke up and mentioned that “Stop and Frisk,” the act of stopping anyone on the street and frisking them for weapons, was ruled unconstitutional years ago, that some order to the proceedings was returned. Well, sort of.

As he gulped swigs of water and started to increase audibly sniffing into the microphone as if trying to clear the last bit of drugs or mucous from his nasal passages, Trump lost all rationality as he launched into an incoherent explanation of the “birther moment,” which he created at the time of the first Obama campaign.

It was a downhill roll from that point on. Trump saying that Hillary lacked the stamina for the job of President, Trump mentioning a 400-pound voter, and Trump skirting the issue about whether he would accept the outcome if he lost the election.

Clinton came into this debate being held to a higher standard—as the first female candidate for President of the U.S.  She excited the same way.  Leaving the debate without speaking to the press, waving Presidentially.

Trump exited the debate through CNN’s Spin Room, trying to explain some of his answers, trying to gain added air time, and looking more like a disgraced executive about to be carted off to jail.

“Everybody love me.  Just look at the debate polls,” he called as he left the hall.

According to CNN, Clinton won the debate 62% compared to Trump’s 27%. Enuf said.

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I’ve never been one deeply moved by hip-hop music. Just ask my husband, who thinks hip-hop is essential to every task from washing clothes to reading the Bible. (Thank you Jesus.) And so when I was motivated by my husband to listen to Frank Ocean’s new album Blonde, I cannot be blamed for hesitating to cooperate. It was only after I discovered that his motivation took the form of withholding sex that I reconsidered listening to Mr. Ocean’s Blonde. I was not yet aware that the album had debuted at Number One on the Billboard charts. I knew it was highly anticipated, of course.

It had been four years, after all, since his first album blast onto the music scene with such adulation that even I could not ignore it. Channel Orange was a blend of soul, R&B and hip hop, a fusion that certainly got my attention, if only for its uniqueness. Frank Ocean’s lyrics peel back layers of emotions that are so normally in place that you feel they are essential. Or, at least, they are essential until he removes them and you feel exposed and liberated at the same time. It’s like what happens when you have a good cry—in public. There’s a certain humiliation about the experience but at the end of the day, you feel pretty doggone good about yourself. And so it is with Frank Ocean.

In addition to the lyrics, which are always supposed to say something meaningful and poignant, there is the unexpected music—some of which is so unobtrusive that it becomes soothing background music. And even when Frank finally sings his first line, it’s almost a whisper compared to other hip-hop artists’ hostility—jamming and pushing their curse words and crushed grammar down our throats as if we have no choice to accept it. Well, I have a choice, and I’ve, more often than not, refused to accept such trash as art. But this–this Blonde–art is art.

I guess I should have known that I would have a bond with this singer/songwriter/performer/lover. I had forgotten that years ago Ocean had admitted via Tumblr about the moment he realized that he was in love with a man. It was an outpouring so heart wrenching in its purity that I should have seen the genius inside at that moment.

“4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. ,” he wrote. “We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile. I’d hear his conversation and his silence…until it was time to sleep. Sleep I would often share with him.  “By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life.

“Back then, my mind would wander to the women I had been with, the ones I cared for and thought I was in love with. I reminisced about the sentimental songs I enjoyed when I was a teenager.. The ones I played when I experienced a girlfriend for the first time. I realized they were written in a language I did not yet speak. I realized too much, too quickly. Imagine being thrown from a plane. I wasn’t in a plane though. I was in a Nissan Maxima, the same car I packed up with bags and drove to Los Angeles in.

“I sat there and told my friend how I felt. I wept as the words left my mouth. I grieved for them, knowing I could never take them back for myself. He patted my back. He said kind things. He did his best, but he wouldn’t admit the same. He had to go back inside soon, it was late and his girlfriend was waiting for him upstairs.”

I’m told that Frank Ocean has made $1 million from Blonde since its release only days ago. I now understand why. Thank you husband for the forced introduction.

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ORLANDO–U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Kelly in Orlando ordered Craig Allen Jungwirth, 50, to be formally transferred back to Broward County to face Federal charges that Jungwirth illegally threatened to injure others via interstate commerce communication.

In court documents, the FBI accuses Jungwirth of using Facebook to post a series of slurs against the gay community in Wilton Manors, threatening a massacre of LGBTs over the Labor Day weekend.

“None of you deserve to live” and, “If you losers thought the Pulse nightclub shooting was bad, wait till you see what I’m planning for Labor Day,” he allegedly posted.

The Florida Highway Patrol arrested Jungwirth two days before the holiday in Osceola County on a charge of driving on a suspended license. He was jailed in Seminole County and turned over to federal custody Thursday, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Jungwirth had been living with his mother outside of Orlando. According to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, on Sept. 2, the FBI subpoenaed records that indicated that the threatening posts were made from an Internet account registered to an address owned by Jungwirth’s mother.

The post Heee’s Back: Jungwirth Returns to Broward Jail appeared first on Florida Agenda - LGBT News.

For all the talk about Hillary Clinton’s health and that of her staff this past week (she wasn’t the only one to contract pneumonia), there has been no slow-down on the campaign trail as the candidates push toward their first Presidential Debate on September 26.

If anything, the war of words has turned more turbulent, vitriolic and specific with the LGBT community finding itself on the front lines of this political battle, like it or not.

It was Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine who gave the first inkling this past weekend when delivering the keynote address at the 20^th annual black-tie Human Rights Campaign Dinner by calling on LGBTs to “mobilize.” It was a direct call to arms aimed at insuring that the Clinton-Kaine ticket won the swing states—some of which are actually in Trump territory.

Florida is always considered an essential state for a national political win.  Four years ago, Obama won the state by less than one percent.  But a lot has happened in the Sunshine State in four years, including the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The unemployment rate has dropped to 4.7%, which is a little lower than the national average. What used to be a retirement mentality has switched to an upwardly mobile state that saw half a million Latinos move into Florida in the past four years.  Most of them are registered Democrats, with the minority now accounting for 25% of the electorate.

It was also the home to the largest massacre in recent America history with the Pulse Nightclub murders. In addition, Florida has 11 of the nation’s most dangerous cities. This becomes relevant on a number of levels as the Presidential contest moves into its final months.

Florida is a state whose northern borders are replete with religious zealots and radical conservatives who think violence is a likely outcome should Hillary Clinton be elected president.  They agree with Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, who also spoke last Saturday, to a very different audience.

While speaking at the annual Value Voters Summit in Washington DC, Bevin stated that should Clinton be elected president of the United States, the nation would recover but not without shedding blood. “The roots of the tree of liberty are watered by what? The blood, of who? The tyrants to be sure, but who else. The patriots,” Bevin said, referencing a quote from Thomas Jefferson. “Whose blood will be shed? It may be that of those in this room. It might be that of our children and grandchildren. I have nine children. It breaks my heart to think it might be their blood that is needed to redeem something, to reclaim something that we through our apathy and indifference have given away.”

The Democrats were quick to dismiss Bevin’s comments. “I believe that his call to shed the blood of fellow Americans is unconstitutional and a violation of his sworn oath to uphold the laws of the commonwealth,” Democrat Nancy Jo Kemper said at a news conference just outside Bevin’s office in the state capitol. Kemper is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr in Kentucky’s 6th District.

Republican Party of Kentucky spokesman Tres Watson called Kemper’s comments “a desperate act by a desperate candidate.”

Bevin is in his first term and is not on the ballot in November. But he is campaigning hard to help Republicans win a majority in Kentucky’s House of Representatives, the last legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats.

He used his speech on Saturday to encourage Christian voters to not be silent on issues they care about.

“Look at the atrocity of abortion, so many have remained silent. It’s a slippery slope. First we’re killing children, then it’s ‘don’t ask don’t tell.’ Now it’s this gender-bending, don’t ask, don’t be a bigot, don’t be unreasonable, don’t be unenlightened, heaven forbid,” Bevin said, referring to policies on gays in the military and other LGBT issues.

Clinton believes that her key to winning is through the direct mobilization of gays and lesbians who have a history of organizing political victories. Clinton believes that the LGBTs are essential to win Florida and the other swing states of Arizona (where they are at a virtual tie), Colorado (where Clinton is currently leading by 9.7%), Georgia (virtual tie), Iowa (virtual tie), Michigan (Clinton, 5.6% lead), Missouri (Trump leads by 3%), New Hampshire (Clinton by 5%), Nevada (tie), North Carolina (tie), Ohio (tie), Pennsylvania (Clinton by 6.2%) and Virginia (Clinton by 3.7%). It’s war. And it’s happening now.

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In a word, Ethos Greek Bisto is  Fantastikós. Fantastic.

In this city where there’s a Thai restaurant on every third corner, the opening of a Greek restaurant on Wilton Drive is cause for celebration. We’re not talking about breaking plates on the floor and holding hands dancing the Kalamatianós. We’re talking about a celebration of healthy food where the platters arriving from the kitchen are a mosaic of colors and aromas that looks as fresh and healthy as they are.

True to every Greek menu is an assortment of wonderful spreads, served with toasted pita bread. Our favorite is the Zesty Creamy Feta with the roasted red pepper. But then, Ethos serves some of the best Hummus around as well, albeit heavy on the garlic…but oh so delicious.  $6.00 a plate and enough to share around the table.

For those who don’t know Greek Dakos, the version served at Ethos is as flavorful as any we’ve ever experienced in Crete from where this dish originates. It’s a Greek-style brochetta that uses a hardened bread called rusk which is topped with tomato puree and feta cheese, plus basil. Ask for some chopped olives to complete the taste and be sure to pass around. $9.

Speaking of sharing, the best way to get an instant sample of all the spreads as well as other popular dishes at Ethos is through its Taste of Ethos Silver or Gold assortment platters. In the Silver Sampler, enjoy the various spreads, a Greek salad (with vine ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, feta, kalamata olives, house greens, red wine vinegar & olive oil), stuffed grape leaves (a Greek classic with rice, herbs and lemon sauce), and the meat platter of gyro, grilled chicken, pork tenderloin, grilled kefte rice, and wedged potatoes. At $21 per person, (with a minimum of two persons), it is the bargain taste treat. The Gold Sampler adds two lamb chops to the mix for an extra $6.00.

For a slighter smaller dish in plate size if not quantity, try the Surf and Turf (pictured), two full-sized lamb chops with shrimp saganaki—a shrimp over rice dish named after the skillet in which it is cooked. Separating the portions is some lovely grilled eggplant. Magnificent. $26.

Every Greek restaurant has at least one version of Calamari, and at Ethos you’ve got your choice of two—Grilled (on a bed of sautéed red cabbage) for $11, and Fried (dusted with seasoned flour and served with red marinara sauce for $10. The Grilled Octopus at $14 is sashimi grade and charred to perfection.

The ambiance of Ethos is sophisticated stonework and well-polished wood with a long, packed bar on the south side of the restaurant and an exposed kitchen to the west. The skilled servers, including our own fresh-faced John, were school in the food and steeped in Greek history. From the look through the kitchen’s glassed front, it is a well-run place with a choreographed display of grilling, slicking and plating that needs only an orchestration to be its own show.

Unfortunately for Ethos, its major downfall is its very design. Planned throughout to allow intimate seating for two or four, and with gentle lighting that says romance in tones of orange and gold, Ethos drops the ball in its music level, which is so high that customers try to overcome the sound my speaking louder.  The perfect setting for a lingering feast with a loved one, and the kind of fabulous food we would cherish to consume often is overwhelmed by a noise level that is disturbing in its intensity.  A request to manager Jamie Logue to lower the music brought only a temporary respite, for all too soon, it was re-upped with the spirited and glamorous crowd right with it.

Plan to make a stop at Ethos Greek Bistro. Go early before the crowd gets too loud…and be sure to them that the Agenda sent you. Fantastikós. (2055 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL  754-999-0034)

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FORT LAUDERDALE–The GLBX Council of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce’s will present its third annual ARTOPIA at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, September 24 at 7 p.m. The gala evening will feature Broadway singer-actor Jonathan Hawkins, DJs PJ DeBoy and Paul Dawson and photographer M. Sharkey, plus many surprise elements that will captivateGLBX supporters in attendance.

“The GLBX is thrilled to once again transform NSU Art Museum into an extravaganza of performance and visual art that will benefit several deserving artistic and cultural endeavors” said Andy Perrott, event chair for ARTOPIA. “Now in its third year, ARTOPIA is a proud celebration of the diverse array of arts and culture in South Florida.”

The event is sponsored by AUDI Fort Lauderdale and Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood.

Portraits from M. Sharkey’s “Queer Kids,” an exhibit made possible by Stonewall National Museum and Archives, will be on display during the event. M. Sharkey is an award winning portrait photographer and filmmaker living in NYC. For the past 8 years, he has been documenting queer youth across the US and in Europe. Sharkey’s photographs are intimate testaments to his subjects’ powerful self-awareness; at once empathetic and opulent, they are the visual counterpart to the voice these young people have struggled – and lately succeeded – to find.

Island City Stage will “Make America Great Again” with a selection of scenes from “Shorts Gone Wild 4: Election 2016,” the company’s newly debuted, politically-themed comedy. “Shorts Gone Wild” are tailored to explore the values, issues and humor that are relevant to the LGBT and Progressive communities, while providing an opportunity for theatergoers to address social issues through a creative process.

In addition to the roster of performance artists, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will present a surprise performance combining music, dance, lights and illusion. Guests will also explore select exhibits, currently on display at the NSUArt Museum.

Event doors will open at 7 p.m. with VIP guests ushered to an exclusive reception that includes an intimate performance by Jonathan Hawkins, along with hand-served specialty drinks and hors d’oeuvres. All other guests can indulge in an assortment of culinary delights and specialty drinks fromTastebuds while exploring the plethora of artistic offerings.

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STUART, FL—The ugly face of Flakka announced its presense in Stuart, FL, this past week when a man identified as Nico Gallo came crashing through the plate glass front window of a home on SE Orchard St. He immediately attacked a mother and her 30-year-old son in the living room.

Despite having hit the attacker several dozens of times with an aluminum baseball bat, the man identified as Gallo continued to try to punch and scratch the pair. A witness later told investigators, he and Gallo had taken LSD and a drug called methylone which belongs in the class of so-called bath salts or Flakka, Snyder noted. Tests revealed it was another compound called dibutylone, another bath salt.

Gallo was arrested by the Martin County deputy sheriffs, who said that “this suspect had no criminal history, and now he faces life felonies.”

Gallo was hospitalized in stable condition while nvestigators said they will recommend charges of burglary and assault during a burglary.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, FL– Olivia Travel, the leading provider of cruise, resort, adventure and luxury vacations for the lesbian community, announced its Scholartrip program at the Aqua Foundation for Women Emerging Leaders Conference in University Park, FL last week. The purpose of the program is an attempt to inspire, motivate, and empower the next generation of LBTQ leaders.

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Hummus is an ancient Egyptian dip traditionally scooped up with heated pita bread. In America, backyarders have been known to use corn chips. Do not be tempted. This appetizer makes an excellent addition to any festive meal, high in protein and rich in history.

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves
1 15.5-ounce can shelled chickpeas, drained with 2 Tbsp liquid reserved (see note)
1 tsp salt
2 to 3 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp tahini
Hot sauce, to taste

Prepare:

In a food processor, mince the garlic. Add the shelled chickpeas, reserved liquid, salt, lemon juice, tahini, and hot sauce. Puree until smooth. Season with more salt, if needed.

Note from Chef Dimitri: “To achieve really smooth, creamy hummus, you should shell the chickpeas before putting them in a food processor. In this case, we’re using canned chickpeas. To shell, simply go through the chickpeas and pinch each one to slide the outer shell off,” Chef says.

Cava Grill is Washington, DC’s most illustrious chain of restaurants for those wanted to experience the true joy of Greek and Mediterranean cooking.  Here we present founding chef Dimitri Moshovitis’s own recipe for his classic dip.

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