The Associated Press reports: Dozens of people have participated in a gay pride event in highly conservative Montenegro where authorities are promising to boost gay rights as part of efforts to join the European Union. Hundreds of policemen deployed Saturday in downtown Podgorica, the capital, to prevent possible attacks from extremists. Participants in the pride march carried banners reading “born …

Breitbart is encouraging their readers to sow familial disharmony over the holidays with a mocking Christmas ornament. Here’s the pitch: “We could not offer therapy dogs or cry-ins. That being said, nothing says You’re Precious quite like Breitbart’s first ever Snowflake Tree Ornament. Crafted with love in the USA, these snowflakes will NOT melt, even if the recipients do.” This …

The Hill reports: President-elect Donald Trump on Friday acknowledged that his backers were “vicious” and “violent” during the campaign. “You people were vicious, violent, screaming, ‘Where’s the wall? We want the wall!’ Screaming, ‘Prison! Prison! Lock her up!’ I mean you are going crazy. I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right?” Trump …

Politico reports: Rep. Mick Mulvaney has been picked as director of the Office of Management and Budget for President-elect Donald Trump, the transition team confirmed Saturday morning. One of the founding members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, the South Carolina Republican is a fierce fiscal conservative. An aide to the transition team indicated Mulvaney would be tapped Friday night. …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has accused China of “stealing” a US Navy drone, after it was seized in international waters of the South China Sea. The President-elect tweeted: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act.” The incident, which followed Mr Trump’s …

The New York Times reports: Amid a tense and dramatic backdrop of outrage and frustration, the Republican-controlled state legislature on Friday approved a sweeping package of restrictions on the power of the governor’s office in advance of the swearing in of the Democratic governor-elect, Roy Cooper. Protesters spent a second day chanting and disrupting debate. Some were arrested and led …

The American Family Association thinks it would be wonderful if Trump would project the words “Merry Christmas” onto the front of the White House. Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: After a short discussion in which [AFA president Tim] Wildmon asserted that “progressives” should really be referred to as “God haters” who have nothing but disdain for conservatives and …

Bucking the nationwide trend of gay bars closing. The Washington Blade reports: The Baltimore Eagle, the city’s iconic leather bar, may have its long-awaited opening on New Year’s Eve. “We’re doing two inspections this week,” Charles King, general manager of the Baltimore Eagle, told the Blade. “We’re still hopeful of opening even partially by New Year’s Eve. Keeping our fingers …

CNN reports: President Barack Obama asserted Friday that a September confrontation with his Russian counterpart prompted Moscow to cease its hacking of the US election. During a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in China, Obama said he insisted President Vladimir Putin “cut it out” and told him “there were going to be serious consequences if …

Too late, suckers. Via World Net Daily: A years-long forensics investigation into the computer image of the long-form Hawaiian birth certificate image that Barack Obama released during a White House news conference during his first term and presented to the American people as an official government document concluded it is “fake.” The probe also confirms that those who were subjected …

The Huffington Post reports: Current North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) has signed one of two bills that would drastically reduce the powers of his successor, incoming Democratic Governor-elect Roy Cooper. House Bill 17 and Senate Bill 4 were introduced by Republican lawmakers in the state legislature on Wednesday. Both bills passed in their respective chambers the following day by …

The Washington Post reports: FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. have backed a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump win the presidency, according to U.S. officials. Comey’s support for the CIA’s conclusion suggests that the leaders of the three agencies are in agreement …

Folio reports: Vanity Fair’s subscriptions increased 100 fold following a Thursday morning tweet from president-elect Donald Trump which stated without evidence that the magazine had “really poor numbers.” “This was the highest number of subscriptions sold in a single day ever at Condé Nast,” a Condé Nast spokesperson tells Folio. Trump’s tweet was seemingly in response to an article by …

This will definitely gay up this joint. The San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus closed their Christmas show this week with quite the complexly choreographed number set to Hooray For Our Favorite Son from the 1991 Tony-winning musical The Will Rogers Follies. I’d say they did Tommy Tune proud. Watch below. (Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)

The New York Times reports: Hillary Clinton said Thursday the hacking attacks carried out by Russia against her campaign and the Democratic National Committee were intended “to undermine our democracy” and were ordered by Vladimir V. Putin “because he has a personal beef against me.” Speaking to a group of donors in Manhattan, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Putin, the …

For more than a decade those deviant commies over at Right Wing Watch have been lying about the religious right by reposting their own videos and quoting their own words verbatim. So says hate group leader Mat Staver, as reported by those liars at Right Wing Watch: Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver apparently does not appreciate our practice of directly quoting …

Alas, our annual holiday week at the eternally fabulous Island House is drawing to a close and tomorrow morning we’ll head back up the Overseas Highway to Fort Lauderdale. This year’s visit got off to a bit of a rainy start, but it’s been clear skies and 80 degrees ever since. (And yes, I’ve been noting the 10 degree wind …

This is SO much fun. Vanity Fair recaps: What did we do to deserve James Corden? It’s been quite a year, but at last it’s time to start wrapping it up—and the Late Late Show host has apparently been working for all of 2016 to make sure his viewers do so in the best way possible. How? By quietly enlisting …

Entertainment Weekly reports: The clock is ticking down to the first family’s departure from the White House — but first, Michelle Obama is giving her last interview as first lady to Oprah Winfrey. In a preview of the CBS and OWN special, aptly titled First Lady Michelle Obama Says Farewell to the White House — An Oprah Winfrey Special, Winfrey …

Politico reports: President Barack Obama vowed to take retaliatory action against Russia for trying “to impact the integrity” of the 2016 presidential elections, in an interview broadcast Thursday. “I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action,” the president told NPR. “And we will …