News

From the Independent: More than a million people have signed a petition demanding a second EU referendum as the UK continues to reel from the vote for a Brexit. Signatories are calling for a new rule to be implemented stipulating that polls on the European Union with a majority under 60 per cent and turnout under 75 per cent must …

The Associated Press reports: Bernie Sanders says he will vote for Hillary Clinton for president. While stopping short of a full endorsement of his Democratic rival, Sanders says he’s “pretty good at arithmetic” and understands that Clinton has more pledged delegates than he does. “I will do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump,” because his campaign is built on …

From the BBC: Scotland’s first minister has said a second independence referendum is “highly likely” after the UK voted to leave the EU. Nicola Sturgeon said it was “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland faced the prospect of being taken out of the EU against its will. She said the Scottish government would begin preparing legislation to enable another independence vote. Scotland …

From the Washington Post: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump celebrated Britain’s stunning vote to leave the European Union Friday during an overseas visit to Scotland, saying that the people of the United Kingdom have “taken their country back” and musing that it could benefit his Turnberry golf resort. “I think it’s a great thing that happened,” Trump told reporters shortly …

Via the Independent: David Cameron today paid the price for his failure to secure Britain’s future in the European Union announcing his resignation and admitting the country now needed “fresh leadership”. Flanked by his wife and at one stage close to tears Mr Cameron said it would be wrong for him “to be the captain that steers our country to …

From TIME Magazine: Polling stations all over the U.K. closed at 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. EST) and ballot boxes were moved to counting centres to find out if the country will remain part of the European Union. High turnouts were reported in some areas, although voters were delayed as floods closed roads and railway lines in the southeast …

Pink News reports: Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has declared that “our children are gay and God is gay” – in a poem released in the wake of the Orlando massacre. Duffy was appointed as Britain’s Poet Laureate in 2009, and is the first ever openly LGB person to hold the esteemed traditional role. The Poet Laureate is expected to …

Fox News shrieker Todd Starnes is having a Twitter meltdown over the still-going House gun control sit-in. According to Starnes, Speaker Paul Ryan should order that Democrats be physically dragged from the building. If Todd Starnes is pissed, you know Democrats are doing the right thing.

As those of us watching the sit-in live stream last night witnessed, at one point crackpot Rep. Louie Gohmert rushed the podium to scream about radical Islam and he nearly came to blows with Rep. Corrine Brown. This morning Gohmert ran whining to Fox News.  The Hill reports: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) early Thursday blasted the Democrats’ gun control sit-in, …

MarketWatch reports: It’s raining cats and dogs in parts of the U.K., and that could be good news for Brexit backers. Torrential downpours and thunderstorms began hitting the south east of England late Wednesday, causing the U.K.’s Met Office to put out flood warnings just as Thursday’s referendum got underway to decide whether the U.K. should stay in the European …

CNN reports: Although Republicans leaders shut off House cameras, Democrats were continuing Thursday morning to livestream their activities on the House floor. Rep. Mark Takano plugged his phone into an external power source, set it on top of a chair facing the podium, and was streaming on his Facebook page even though he’d left the chamber to appear on CNN’s …

Via Politico: Sen. Bernie Sanders acknowledged Wednesday that his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee for president aren’t ideal. “It doesn’t appear that I’m going to be the nominee, so I’m not going to be determining the scope of the convention,” Sanders said during an interview with C-SPAN. The comment came in response to a question about his preparations for …

From the Washington Post: Sen. Marco Rubio will announce Wednesday he will seek re-election to the Senate, reversing a pledge he made a year ago to either assume the presidency or return to private life in Florida, instantly transforming an already competitive race and improving the chances that Republicans can maintain the Senate majority. Rubio is set to announce the …

Last week’s assassination of Labour MP Jo Cox by a pro-Brexit extremist appears to have had little effect on the polling for tomorrow’s national referendum. Via USA Today: Campaigning over the United Kingdom’s future in the European Union entered a final, frenzied day Wednesday, as polls showed support for staying or splitting in a virtual dead heat. “We are not …

From the Toronto Star: When police stormed four gay bathhouses in Toronto on Feb. 5, 1981, patrons were mocked, humiliated — and arrested by the hundreds. The raids outed men who considered the private clubs a sanctuary, free from the hostility of a populace who disapproved of, or didn’t understand, intimacy between men. On Wednesday, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders …

The Week recaps: As Britain prepares to vote this Thursday on whether or not to remain in the European Union, John Oliver posed a question on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight that may very well be on the minds of many Americans: “Why should I care about what Britain does with the EU?” Well, as Oliver explains, “Britain leaving would be …

CNN reports: Actor Anton Yelchin, 27, who played Chekov in recent “Star Trek” movies, was killed in a freak accident early Sunday morning, police told CNN. Yelchin, who also acted in “Like Crazy” and “Alpha Dog,” died outside his home in Los Angeles, according to law enforcement. Yelchin stepped out of his car in the driveway of his Studio City …

The New York Times reports: Russia’s track and field team has been barred from competing in this summer’s Rio Games because of a far-reaching doping conspiracy, an extraordinary punishment that might be without precedent in Olympics history. The global governing body for track and field, known as the I.A.A.F., announced the decision on Friday, ruling that Russia had not done …

From the Associated Press: Margaret Vinci Heldt, who became a hairstyling celebrity after she created the famous beehive hairdo in 1960, has died at age 98. Ahlgrim Funeral Home in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst said Monday that Heldt died Friday at a senior living community. The beehive — a tall, conical woman’s hairstyle — became a cultural phenomenon during …

President Obama is due to arrive shortly in Orlando where he will console the families of the Pulse massacre victims and meet with first responders. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is expected to meet the president when he exits Air Force One. Embedded below is a live stream of the president’s visit and I may switch this stream out if necessary.