I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 36th year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is Scottiestoybox@gmail.com
It has been claimed that when Donald Trump travelled to Moscow for the first time back in 1987, as a 40-year-old real estate developer, he was recruited as a KGB agent
A former Soviet intelligence officer has claimed that Donald Trump was recruited by the KGB (
Donald Trump was allegedly recruited as a KGB agent during a trip to Moscow in 1987, a former Soviet intelligence officer has claimed.
Alnur Mussayev, who previously headed Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee, said one of his job “recruiting businessmen from capitalist countries” – and claimed that one of those recruits was Trump. At the time, the now-US president was a 40-year-old New York real estate developer.
The former Kazakh intelligence chief didn’t provide evidence to support his claim, which he made on Facebook, but this has created further speculation about Trump’s ties to Russia, dating back to his first visit to Moscow 38 years ago. Trump, who was a rising star in the New York property market, travelled to the Soviet Union to explore the possibility of building a hotel in the capital.
Trump with Vladimir Putin before a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2018(
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
Soviet officials reportedly facilitated the trip, raising questions among intelligence analysts about whether it was a routine business opportunity or something more scandalous. Several years ago a report highlighted how, in 1985, the KGB had updated a secret personality questionnaire distributed among its officers, detailing how to identify and recruit Western figures.
The document, according to intelligence sources, instructed agents to target “prominent figures in the West” with the aim of “drawing them into some form of collaboration with us… as an agent, or confidential or special or unofficial contact.” Mussayev’s claim appears to suggest that Trump may have been one such target.
Despite years of scrutiny, Trump has vehemently denied having any improper ties to Russia or colluding with President Vladimir Putin. However, some US officials have repeatedly raised concerns about his close relationship with the Kremlin leader, particularly during his first term in office.
I appreciate that Ten Bears adds his thoughts here. I have taken great value from his comments and his posts. I admit I don’t know enough about social media and these spoofing of names / IDs online. I don’t comment much and I doubt I am important enough for anyone to do this horrible thing to me. I imagine finding others posting as Scotties Playtime, as me saying things I do not agree with nor would ever say and the thought of it would not only anger me but how to explain to people now angry it was not me who felt that way. So this is a repost to let people know if they read something that sound off from what you know I would say, what others you follow would say, please think about if it is really them saying that thing. Hugs
Nearly one in 10 Americans now identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup — almost double the percentage recorded just four years ago.
In 2020, 5.6% percent of U.S. adults identified as LGBTQ+ on the Gallup survey, and today, 9.3% of adults in the U.S. identify as part of the community. That number represents a one-point bump from just a year ago, and a staggering increase from the 3.5% first registered in Gallup’s inaugural 2012 poll measuring the size of the LGBTQ+ community. The rise in Americans openly identifying as LGBTQ+ is largely due to an uptick in people who identify as bisexual, especially among Generation Z, according to Gallup’s breakdowns of the data.
More than one in five Gen Z adults (23.1%) now identify as LGBTQ+, per Gallup, followed by about 14% of millennials. Older generations, including Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, all identify as LGBTQ+ at rates of 5% or below, tapering off to only 1.8% for those born in or before 1945.
Of the 900 people surveyed who identified as LGBTQ+, more than half — 56% — indicated that they were bisexual. In fact, more than half of both Gen Z (59%) and millennial (52%) queer people identified as bisexual. These numbers are consistent with past polling that has shown that bisexual people are an “invisible majority” within the queer community.
The percentage of trans U.S. adults has also increased when compared with the survey’s 2024 results. In last year’s poll, fewer than one percent (0.9%) of American adults identified as trans, while this year, 1.3% of respondents self-identified as such. Likewise, last year, 11.8% of the LGBTQ+ population identified as trans, while this year that percentage was recorded at approximately 14%.
The poll notes that LGBTQ+ identification has a strong correlation with being a woman, being politically liberal, and living in an urban area. For example, 21% of liberals, compared to 3% of conservatives, identified as queer or trans, while, overall, 10% of women identify as part of the community compared to 6% of men.
Gallup based its results on interviews with more than 14,000 U.S. adults. Respondents were asked to identify as straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or something else, and are allowed to indicate multiple identities when responding.
As the percentage of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ rises, the statistic inches closer to a famous and controversial claim based on the work of human sexuality researcher Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s. Kinsey estimated that about one in 10 Americans were predominantly homosexual — a figure that was colloquially flattened over the years to become the oft-repeated claim that 10% of the population is gay. Kinsey, however, did not believe identity was easily fixed or categorized and often, instead, spoke about behaviors. For example, through surveys and interviews conducted with thousands ordinary Americans, Kinsey estimated that more than a third of men had a same-sex sexual experience in their lives, while at least one in five women had had the same.
The results of Gallup’s poll suggests a population increasingly likely to be at odds with the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies, which include a January executive order making it the official position of the U.S. government that there are only two genders defined at birth. That memo is part of a recent conservative efforts to deny and regulate the existence of trans people nationwide. In 2024, a record number of bills aimed at limiting trans freedoms, including access to gender-affirming health care, were introduced in state legislatures.
Image: AFP via Getty Images)
