Ex-Miami Beach Pool Attendant Received $1.8 Million Loan From Falwells

Falwell and former pool attendant to whom he loaned $1.8 million.

Try as he might to brush off allegations that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen facilitated fixing a "problem" with racy, intimate photos involving anti-gay bigot and Trump BFF Jerry Falwell, Jr., many in the media are continuing a feeding frenzy over the questions swirling around the alleged photos and an individual some reports are referring to as a "pool boy" who may have been the party who sought to put a financial squeeze on Falwell.  As the Miami New Times is reporting, one Giancarlo Granda, a former Fontainebleau Hotel pool attendant, bizarrely received $1.8 million in loans Jerry Falwell Jr.  It goes without saying that the loans look curious at best.  Meanwhile, Granda is in a pique over news reports referring to him as a pool boy.   Ironically, the story is something that one would expect to see in Trump's former protectors at the National Inquirer. I am sorry if some may believe I am enjoying Falwell's media misfortunes, but time and time again over the life of this blog anti-gay politicians, advocates of ex-gay conversion therapy, and holier than though religious "leaders" have proved to be total hypocrites and have been exposed to have engaged in the very behaviors they condemn while fleecing their followers.  Remember anti-gay zealot Ted Haggard or former GOP Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock, just two of numerous examples?  Here are article excerpts (The Advocate also has coverage here):

Giancarlo Granda, the former Fontainebleau pool attendant whose business bizarrely received $1.8 million in loans from famous evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr., wants the world to stop calling him a "pool boy." He finds the term demeaning.

And, perhaps more notable, he officially denies knowing anything about alleged "racy" photos referenced in a Reuters story published yesterday. Reuters investigative reporter Aram Roston obtained a clandestine recording made by comedian Tom Arnold in which Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen said he helped Falwell Jr. hide intimate photos that a lawyer "in Florida" had obtained. In the recording, Cohen — a man who has ostensibly seen his fair share of shenanigans — said even he found one of the photos to be "terrible."

Roston was also the reporter who broke the news that Falwell Jr. had mysteriously loaned Granda's business a ton of money and that Cohen was aware of a lawsuit involving Falwell and Granda. Reporters have, ahem, speculated that Granda was the Floridian who had obtained said photos and that Cohen might have leveraged the scandal to get Falwell Jr. to endorse the infamously lecherous and not-at-all Jesus-like Trump in 2016.

But today, Granda's lawyer, Aaron Resnick, denied Granda had anything to do with this. Everything about the Falwell Jr. story is extremely weird. To summarize: In 2012, Granda was working as a pool attendant at the luxurious Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. While Granda was employed there, Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki stayed at the resort and, according to court records, "befriended" Granda. From there, Granda grew very close to the Falwell family: According to court filings first reported by Roston, Granda, along with Falwell's son Trey, bought a hostel on Alton Road in Miami Beach and has been managing it ever since. (A Politico reporter even stayed there and implied the place was gay-friendly, which would be pretty darn hypocritical for the infamously homophobic Falwell family.) The Falwells also reportedly flew Granda around in a private jet and even took him to meet Trump. Falwell Jr., meanwhile, has denied the existence of any lurid photos. He told Fox Radio host Todd Starnes there are "no compromising or embarrassing photos" of himself.

"While we have a long-standing friendship with Michael Cohen, we never engaged or paid Cohen to represent us in any legal or other professional capacity, and Cohen did not ever resolve any legal matter on our behalf," Falwell added. "This report is not accurate."
Since the story broke, the internet has been awash in rumors that Granda was somehow involved in the affair.

"Media outlets have been referring to Mr. Granda as a 'pool boy,'" Resnick said. "The term 'pool boy' is being used to demean Mr. Granda, sully his name, and infer negative connotations.

I can't help but wonder if I could claim I had "prayed away the gay" and befriend the Falwells and get my own $1.8 million loan.   On second thought, probably not: ex-gays are a right wing myth and I'm not as young and nice looking as Granda.

Evangelical Leaders Face Sex Scandals

While the never ending sex abuse scandals plaguing the Catholic Church continue to remind the world of the moral bankruptcy complete hypocrisy of the  Church hierarchy - my Google search agent delivers new sex abuse coverage somewhere in the world literally every single day - evangelical Christians are likewise having their hypocrisy put on display as a number of prominent "leaders" are facing sex abuse scandals of their own.  This fact, combined with (i) some 80% of evangelicals supporting Trump, and (ii) the endless deliberate lies and untruths disseminated daily by "Christian family values" organizations, underscore that these folks who want to lecture or condemn others about morality are the LAST people who should be claiming the mantle or moral superiority on any subject.   They are modern day Pharisees plain and simple.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at four prominent evangelicals swept up in sex scandals.   Here are highlights:  

As white evangelicals have been some of President Trump’s staunchest defenders, a handful of their leaders find themselves contending with a problem all too familiar to the commander in chief: a sex scandal.

[S]ome observers wonder whether evangelicals are experiencing a repeat of the scandals that led to the downfall of several well-known televangelists in the 1980s.

[T]here’s a growing — but not fast enough — realization in church life of the way that power can easily be abused in predatory ways, especially spiritual power.

Most recently, Frank Page, president and chief executive of the SBC’s [Southern Baptist Convention] executive committee, announced his resignation because of an “inappropriate relationship.” Page did not divulge the details of his relationship on Tuesday, but in a statement he called it a “personal failing” . . . . Page was among a group of evangelical leaders who last September met with and praised Trump in the Oval Office.

In another case, Bill Hybels, who co-founded Willow Creek, one of the nation’s largest churches, came under the spotlight last week after the Chicago Tribune published a series of allegations that he made suggestive comments, extended hugs, an unwanted kiss, invitations to a staff member to hotel rooms and had a consensual affair with a married woman. . . . . after Hybels responded to the allegations to his congregation, calling them “flat-out lies,” he received standing ovations.

Some fear that women are still being discredited in a climate in which a high majority of white evangelicals support Trump despite the multiple sexual harassment and misconduct allegations he has faced. Nearly 8 in 10 white evangelicals approve of Trump’s job performance, compared with 39 percent of all Americans, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.Wehner says he fears the “circling of the wagons” approach toward protecting leaders instead of victims. . . . “A lot of people are going to think it’s laced with hypocrisy,” he said. “They say one thing and do another. And that the faith is not transformative, faith is just a proxy for political tribalism. 

In a recent piece for the Gospel Coalition, evangelical author and speaker Andy Crouch wrote about the danger of evangelicals’ attraction to celebrity power. . . . “Megachurch pastors have the temptation of being a celebrity of sorts and have an aura around them,” Thumma said.

Earlier this year, a woman said Andy Savage, a megachurch pastor in Memphis, sexually assaulted her 20 years ago, when she was a high school student and Savage was a youth pastor in Texas. After he addressed his congregation, apologized and asked for forgiveness, it applauded him. He has since resigned.

In another case, late last year, Paul Pressler, who helped lead a conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was accused of sexually abusing a young man for several decades, starting when the alleged victim was 14. A pending lawsuit against Pressler, who is a former justice on the Texas 14th Circuit Court of Appeals and who served in the Texas legislature, also names Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president, Paige Patterson, as defendants. Baptist News Global, an independent Baptist news outlet, reported that Southern Baptist leaders were mostly silent about the allegations.

 

Sex-abuse scandals in evangelical churches have been highlighted recently by Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to make allegations against sports physician Larry Nassar. Denhollander has since focused on speaking out about sexual-abuse allegations in Sovereign Grace Churches, a network of congregations mostly based across the United States. 

When the Catholic sex-abuse scandals emerged in the United States, part of the larger outcry was how the church hierarchy was involved in covering up cases. In evangelical circles, where churches are often nondenominational or loosely connected to each other, the lack of hierarchy can cause a different set of problems, said Heath Carter, a professor of history at Valparaiso University.

“In the evangelical world, the independence of evangelical leaders and … lack of authority structure mean they can go on for a while and then explode when they come to light,” Carter said.

I for one hope that they keep on exploding and in the long run expose the hypocrisy and moral emptiness of evangelicals, especially their leadership which, as in the Catholic Church, care about three things: money, power and control over others.  Actually lhe Gospel message in the end means little or nothing.

Will the DC Madam's Client List Doom a Presidential Candidate?

Back in 2009, I had a number of e-mail exchanges with Montgomery Sibley, the author of a then new book entitled "Why Just Her, the Judicial Lynching of the D.C. Madam" that looked at the legal/judicial system as it was brought to bear on Deborah Jeanne Palfrey (Sibley sent me a complimentary copy of the book that prompted me to write this post).  Indeed, Sibley subsequently did a guest post on this blog found here.  Now, Sibley plans on releasing Palfrey's client list as reported by Rachel Maddow who says that it will have a cataclysmic impact on the 2016 presidential race.   Here are excerpts of a reprise of what Maddow covered:

We recently brought you a story by Rachel Maddow regarding the infamous D.C. Madam and her list of clientele — hundreds of Washington D.C. insiders who partook of her “services” by hiring prostitutes from her. Rachel had broken the story that the Madam’s lawyer, who still has the original list, is now threatening to release the entire thing despite a gag order requiring him to keep it secret.

The lawyer has GUARANTEED that the list will come out, it will have information in it that will upset the 2016 election in a severe way by potentially swaying the entire nation away from one candidate — and he intends to make the information public even if he is arrested or otherwise detained. Even if he is dead or incapacitated the list WILL be released via a “dead man switch.”

The way it was explained is that if the lawyer is somehow incapacitated for more than 72 hours, the list will automatically start being distributed to journalists around the world from one of 4 different secret locations in which it’s currently stored. Every day he does a process to reset the 72-hour timer, as of now, to prevent it from mailing out before he is ready.

This is seriously starting to read, like some kind of spy novel. We have a list of names, one of which will completely rewrite the 2016 election if made known, and it’s now on a timer that the owner is using to safeguard himself from potential harm.

I don't know who is on the list, although I can make conjectures that may or may not prove true.  Here is a clip of Rachel Maddow's coverage:

A Pre-nupt for Digital Privacy?

The boyfriend and I are getting married this weekend but we are not getting a pre-nuptial agreement for digital privacy.   But then again, we are not celebrities or as high drama and high maintenance as someone like Johnny Weir whose marital roller coaster is a tabloid dream come true.   But for many celebrities, such agreements is a growing trend so that upon a divorce their soon to be former spouse cannot use personal information in divorce court or to unleash a tabloid "War of the Roses."  I do not, thank god, do divorce work, but I have drafted pre-nuptial agreements for clients, especially LGBT clients.  The Daily Beast looks at the new trend:

The breakup, makeup, and alleged breakup again of figure skater Johnny Weir and his husband, Victor Voronov, has captivated media and skating fans alike. The flamboyance Weir has long brought to his performances on the ice colored this story as well, from accusations of high-fashion theft to a brewing custody battle for the couple’s dog Tema. Then there are the more serious mutual allegations of domestic violence. But the contents of a post-nuptial agreement reported to be a last-ditch effort to save the union proved to be even more eyebrow raising than many of the allegations Weir and Voronov hurled back and forth at each other in the media and in court.

According to reports, the post-nup contained provisions requiring Weir’s mother to stop meddling so much (a request many unhappy spouses dream of!) and another, more unique demand: specific restrictions on whom the couple may text and what kind of texting is appropriate, with specific language to address “sexting.” (Voronov previously alleged texting proof that Weir had been unfaithful.)

Weir and Voronov are certainly not the first couple to be undone by text messages. According to reports, Tiger Woods’s affairs were uncovered as a result of intercepted text messages by his wife.

But here’s a question: Should spouses be permitted to access to each other’s texts or email at all and use them in litigation during breakups? Increasingly, high-powered couples are determining the answer is no, and are going to great lengths to insure that a spouse cannot do so without repercussions. Specifically, more couples are beginning to request digital privacy clauses in prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements.

According to Steven J. Eisman, a matrimonial lawyer with Abrams Fensterman, “In a prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement a digital privacy clause is put in place so a spouse can’t reveal the other spouse’s personal information in court if a divorce were to occur. This includes all digital devices for example, smartphone, computer and tablets.” Eisman explained that digital privacy clauses are distinguished from traditional non-disclosure agreements in that most NDAs have exceptions for courts of law. But digital privacy clauses can specifically preclude a spouse from using anything gathered on a laptop or cell phone in divorce proceedings. This is particularly important for public figures, where confidential information revealed in divorce proceedings can prove particularly damaging.

At first glance, digital privacy clauses may simply sound like yet another way for a wealthy person to gain the upper hand over a less moneyed, less powerful partner in divorce proceedings. After all, a poorer person usually has less leverage in prenuptial agreement negotiations. So if the wealthier partner says, “I don’t want you going through my emails ever or you will face a financial penalty,” one might presume he or she has something to hide—like multiple girlfriends or boyfriends. But what’s at stake for public figures is not necessarily just a secret sexual indiscretion.

For these individuals, insuring that an angry ex can’t use certain emails, texts or social media during disputes is not simply a matter of being discreet, but being a smart businessperson.

But public figures are not the only ones who need to weigh the costs and benefits of digital privacy clauses. Catherine Zang, of Cincinnati, Ohio, discovered her husband had been using surveillance equipment to record her in their home, and software to copy her emails and record who she was corresponding with online.

Eisman said these clauses are likely more common than we think and will continue to gain in popularity, particularly among those in positions of prominence and power. “There is a lot of talk about certain politicians who have gone through divorces where allegedly their spouses have gotten information off their computers and put it in safe deposit boxes,” he said. “There are rumors. You never know. There are people at high levels whether corporate or government who discuss all sorts of things in email.”

 What do readers think about this issue?

Pope Francis Admits a "Gay Lobby" Exists At the Vatican

Some estimates put the percentage of Catholic clergy who are gay at over 50%.  This reality should come as little surprise given that the Catholic Church's celibacy requirement provided a perfect cover for closeted gays and the for sexually dysfunctional and pedophiles.  Now, Pope Francis - for whom I have little use from what I've seen of the man so far - has admitted that, surprise, surprise, there is a gay lobby if you will within the Vatican.   My only questions are (i) whether this lobby includes former Pope Benedict XVI and his handsome personal secretary, and (ii) whether they will be swept up in the coming witch hunt for gays.  Google News looks at this less than surprising admission. Here are highlights:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has admitted the existence of a "gay lobby" inside the Vatican's secretive administration, the Roman Curia, allegedly exposed during a leaks scandal, according to a Latin American Catholic website.

Back in February Italian media claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating the leaks included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay Vatican clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships.

"In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption," the pope is quoted as having said during an audience last week with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women).

"There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists. We have to see what can be done," the 76-year-old pontiff is quoted as saying on the Reflection and Liberation website, which was flagged up by religious news agencies on Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP: "It was a private meeting, I have no comment to make."  The secret report compiled by a committee of three cardinals for the pope's eyes only was the result of a broad inquiry into leaks of secret Vatican papers last year -- a scandal known as "Vatileaks".

Just days before pope Benedict XVI's resignation in February, the Panorama news weekly and the Repubblica daily said that the report contained allegations of blackmail attempts and gay favouritism -- though Lombardi insisted at the time they were "conjectures, fictions and opinions."

The Argentine pope has made reforming the Roman Curia -- the heavily criticised and intrigue-filled administration of the Roman Catholic Church -- a priority of his papacy, but said it would be "difficult".

If a witch hunt does in fact ensue, let's hope that the closeted gays spill their guts to the media and maximize PR damage to the Vatican.   Any organization that has systematically protected child rapists and threatened and intimidated victims of sexual abuse deserves to be destroyed.

Hampton Roads' Resident Buffoon, Pat Robertson Gives Petraeus a Pass for Adultery

Is it just me or is the frequency of Pat Robertson's outbursts of verbal diarrhea increasing?  The man has always been an embarrassment to this region (and actually carries a very high negative view with locals) and made many of us groan.  Now, the man who proclaims that gays should suppress their sexual orientation and remain celibate or better yet pray away the gay says that David Petraeus' adulterous affair is excusable.  After all, he's a man and a sexy woman through herself at him.  RightWing Watch looks at Robertson's latest batshitery.  Here are highlights:

Yesterday on the 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson seemed to portray CIA Director David Petraeus as the real victim of the growing sex scandal involving him and his biographer, Paula Broadwell. He described Broadwell as an “extremely good-looking woman” who is a “marathon runner, she’d run Iron Man triathlons and so she’s out running with him, and she's writing a biography,” and Petraeus simply couldn’t help himself: “The man’s off in a foreign land and he’s lonely and here’s a good-looking lady throwing herself at him. He’s a man.”

Speaking of Possible New Clinton Scandals . . .

As noted earlier, the Washington Post has been trying to get some answers about the donations being given to finance the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. My feeling has always been that if one has nothing to hide, one is not afraid of allowing transparency. By their actions, Billary suggest that there just may well be some unsavory dirt to be found. If there is nothing to hide, why are they hiding information? As noted before, here we go again!! The country does NOT need this crap for 4 to 8 more years. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402124.html):

A handful of major donors' names to the Clinton library were disclosed in 2004 when a New York Sun reporter accessed a public computer terminal at the library that provided a list of donors. Soon after the article appeared, the list of donors was removed. The amount of the contribution from Saudi Arabia and several other countries, as well as the percentage of the total given by foreigners, had not been revealed.

The Post confirmed numerous seven-figure donors to the library through interviews and tax records of foundations. Several foreign governments gave at least $1 million, including the Middle Eastern nations of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the governments of Taiwan and Brunei.

In addition, a handful of Middle Eastern business executives and officials also gave at least $1 million each, according to the interviews. They include Saudi businessmen Abdullah al-Dabbagh, Nasser al-Rashid and Walid Juffali, as well as Issam Fares, a U.S. citizen who previously served as deputy prime minister of Lebanon.

Clinton has been criticized for asking for donations, including from Saudi Arabia, at questionable moments. In an op-ed column in the Wall Street Journal last year, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh said Clinton "hit up [Saudi Arabia's head of state] Prince Abdullah for a contribution to his library" during a meeting in which Freeh wanted Clinton to ask about the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Clinton has publicly disputed Freeh's account.

Clinton has also been challenged by members of Congress for accepting a reported $450,000 donation to his library from the former wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich before he granted Rich a pardon for tax evasion in 2001. Neither Clinton nor the Rich family confirmed the donation.

A Scandal-Scarred G.O.P. Asks, ‘What Next?’

This is a good article in today's New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/us/politics/29repubs.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) that gives a rundown of the failure of the party of "family values" to even remotely live up to the standards they and their Christianist allies preach. Personally, I hope the scandals keep on coming in a steady drumbeat between now and November, 2008. Nothing is more satisfying that seeing hypocritical politicians exposed as frauds:

Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.

It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of sexual foibles and financial misdeeds that have landed Republicans in the political equivalent of purgatory, the realm of late-night comic television.

Forget Mark Foley of Florida, who quit the House last year after exchanging sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age male pages, or Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose dealings with the old Republican Congress landed him in prison. They are old news, replaced by a fresh crop of scandal-plagued Republicans, men like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose phone number turned up on the list of the so-called D.C. Madam, or Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, both caught up in F.B.I. corruption investigations.

Then again, Washington does not have a monopoly on the latest trend among Republicans. Just ask Thomas Ravenel, the state treasurer of South Carolina, who had to step down as state chairman of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign after he was indicted on cocaine charges in June. Or Bob Allen, a state representative in Florida who was jettisoned from the John McCain campaign last month after he was arrested on charges of soliciting sex in a public restroom.