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Sweet Cakes Bakery Gets GoFundMe Page After Judge Awards Same-Sex Couple $135,000

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An Oregon judge has ruled in what has become an iconic anti-gay discrimination case, and the Christian bakery owners are claiming that money will take food out of their children’s mouths.

In January of 2013 Rachel Bowman and her mother went to a local cake bakery to order a wedding cake. The Gresham, Oregon bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, refused the order, despite the fact that their business, as the name implies, was selling wedding cakes. The refusal, from Aaron Klein and his wife Melissa Klein, wasn’t because they were understaffed, or had too many orders, or were closing for vacation. No, their reason, as they told Rachel and her mom, was that Rachel was marrying a woman, and baking a cake for a same-sex couple, they said, violated their Christian faith.

 “I’m very sorry, I believe I have wasted your time,” Aaron Klein says he told Rachel Bowman in his court testimony. “We do not do cakes for same sex weddings.” Klein testified he also quoted Leviticus to Bowman and her mother.

Today, after nearly two years of litigation, a judge awarded Rachel Bowman-Cryer $75,000, and her wife, Laurel Bowman-Cryer, $60,000 in damages for their emotional suffering, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) judge ruled.

That figure could change, and increase up to $150,000 total, or decrease, based on the final decision of State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, The Oregonian reports.

“The facts of this case clearly demonstrate that the Kleins unlawfully discriminated against the Complainants,” the BOLI ruling states. “Under Oregon law, businesses cannot discriminate or refuse service based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot turn customers away because of race, sex, disability, age or religion. Our agency is committed to fair and thorough enforcement of Oregon civil rights laws, including the Equality Act of 2007.”

The Kleins have become martyrs for the religious right, who for years have claimed the lawsuit had already bankrupted them and forced them out of business, which are lies propagated by some of the most ardent anti-gay activists.

UPDATE: GoFundMe Cancels Sweet Cakes By Melissa Fundraising Campaign, Bakers Blame ‘Satan’

This afternoon, Melissa Klein took to Facebook to announce the ruling, and to link to a GoFundMe account set up for them today. As of this writing it has received nearly $20,000 in just four hours. 

“We just found out that the judge has made his decision, he is ordering that we pay $135,000 in emotional damages. This money will not come from the business, but instead would have to be paid from money that should be going to pay for food and housing for us and our 5 children,” Klein wrote. “This amount will financially ruin us. Our government was put in place to protect the people not to punish people because of their faith. We have had many people ask to help, someone kindly set up a go fund me for us. Thank you to all who are willing to fight for religious freedom. God bless.”

One vastly under-reported aspect of the story was the Bowman-Cryers received death threats after the story gained media attention and their personal contact information was posted to Aaron Klein’s personal Facebook page, according to The Oregonian.

Rachel Bowman-Cryer said she and her wife received death threats as media attention and criticism from strangers escalated in the months after the story went national in January 2013.

She said the threats were part of a stream of “hateful, hurtful things” that came after the couple’s contact information (home address, phone and email) was posted on Aaron Klein’s personal Facebook page. She said she feared for her life and her wife’s life.

The death threats and media attention caused the Bowman-Cryers to fear the children they were fostering would be taken away from them, they testified in court.

 

Related:

Same-Sex Couple In Sweet Cakes By Melissa Case Received Death Threats

Fox News Reporter Just Can’t Figure Out Facts In Anti-Gay Bakers Story

Sweet Cakes By Melissa Guilty In Anti-Gay Discrimination Case Oregon Officer Rules

Gay Evangelical Raising Dough For Anti-Gay ‘Sweet Cakes’ Bakery

Anti-Gay Christian Baker Says She Is ‘Compassionate’

Christian Baker Who Closed Her Shop Rather Than Serve Gay Couples Breaks Into Tears (Video)

 

 

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News

‘They’re Scared’: Vance Mocked for Late Night Loyalty Pledge After Trump-Musk Meltdown

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On a day dominated by an all-out clash between the billionaire President and the world’s richest federal contractor—marked by personal insults, threats of contract cancellations, and even a call for impeachment—Vice President JD Vance was conspicuously absent. Until the very end.

Musk answered “Yes” when a right-wing influencer wrote, “Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.”

Trump threatened he would cancel the federal government’s billions of dollars in contracts with the man who spent much of the year literally by his side, Elon Musk:

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely Incredible’: Dr. Oz Slammed for Telling Medicaid Users to ‘Prove You Matter’

Musk charged that Trump was in the Epstein files:

Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

Trump alleged that “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”

And so it went.

The Vice President was all but silent throughout.

Until 10:28 PM, when—as the battle had wound down and something of a “truce” was in the works, reportedly after an Oval Office meeting—Vance finally broke his silence.

READ MORE: ‘He. Is. Lying.’: GOP Senator Ripped for Spinning Medicaid Cuts as ‘Transitioning’

“President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I’m proud to stand beside him.”

Political observers blasted and mocked the Vice President.

“Nothing says courage like tweeting support for your boss at 10pm after watching him get his a– handed to him by a weirdo billionaire all day,” wrote Democratic strategist and former Harris advisor Mike Nellis.

“Ooh, I can just feel the power of love here. It’s just overwhelming,” snarked attorney George Conway.

“You know the s— is hitting the fan when a Vice President has to send out something like this. It’s like we are watching an episode of Veep, just not as funny,” said Washburn University School of Law Professor Joe Mastrosimone.

“LOL,” mocked conservative Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch. “Congrats to the team for coming up with this. Technically true if you define ‘the movement that he leads’ as the coterie of sycophants and cultists who trust Trump to be Trump. Otherwise this is a—covering gibberish.”

But expert Latino GOP political consultant Mike Madrid had a different take on the Vance statement: “They’re scared,” he wrote.

READ MORE: Trump’s DOT Is Spending Millions to Investigate If DEI Is to Blame for Plane Crashes

 

Image via Reuters

 

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‘Absolutely Incredible’: Dr. Oz Slammed for Telling Medicaid Users to ‘Prove You Matter’

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Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s Administrator for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is facing sharp criticism after suggesting that the more than ten million people projected to lose their healthcare under the current Republican budget bill do not matter.

The legislation as written requires that many Medicaid users work and provide documentation that they have worked at least 80 hours each month, or be kicked off the critical safety net. Many Republicans have been suggesting Medicaid users are intentionally not working so they can collect federal government benefits like Medicaid. But many Medicaid users do work, and many cannot find jobs.

“Go out there, do the entry-level jobs, get into the workforce. Prove that you matter, get agency into your own life,” Dr. Oz, the former television talk show host and promoter of allegedly questionable health supplements and other products, told Fox Business.

READ MORE: ‘He. Is. Lying.’: GOP Senator Ripped for Spinning Medicaid Cuts as ‘Transitioning’

“It’s a much more enjoyable experience if you’re going through a life thinking that you control your destiny, and you’ll get better insurance at the same time,” he claimed.

Nearly half of employers—about 46%—do not offer health insurance at all. Most exclude part-time workers from coverage. Gig workers typically receive no health benefits through their jobs. And many seasonal workers struggle to meet the monthly hour thresholds needed to remain eligible for Medicaid.

The Hill also reported that Dr. Oz said to people not willing to go back to work, volunteer, or take care of a loved one, “we are going to ask you to do something else. Go on the exchange, or get a job and get onto regular commercial insurance. But we are not going to continue to pay for Medicaid for those audiences.”

Critics blasted Oz.

“When asked about Medicaid cuts, the literal head of the federal agency overseeing Medicaid had this to say: ‘Prove that you matter.’ Absolutely incredible,” remarked Andrea Ducas, Vice President  of health policy at the Center for American Progress.

READ MORE: Trump’s DOT Is Spending Millions to Investigate If DEI Is to Blame for Plane Crashes

“Health care isn’t a prize for being productive. It’s a right. And 16 million people could lose it if this bill passes,” warned the nonprofit Protect Our Care.

“Dr. Oz, who spent his career hawking colloidal silver as a cure-all, tells Medicaid recipients to ‘prove that you matter’ if they want health care,” charged Alexandra De Luca, vice president of communications at the liberal super PAC American Bridge.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Made Government Newark Airport’: Moskowitz Mocks GOP, Trump Failures

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘He. Is. Lying.’: GOP Senator Ripped for Spinning Medicaid Cuts as ‘Transitioning’

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U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) is receiving strong criticism for his claim that Republicans’ budget legislation does not remove millions of Medicaid users from the program, but rather “transitions” them to employer-based health care programs.

Just slightly more than half of private employers (53%) offer health care to employees, according to KFF, and largely only to those working full-time. Many employers hire part-time workers to avoid having to pay for health care coverage. And many people who work are part of the gig economy, working at jobs that offer flexible scheduling but who are not hired as employees, and are not offered health care. Some are forced to take seasonal jobs, which can dry up in the off-season.

“People are screaming and saying, “Hey, it’s kicking people off Medicaid.’ It’s not kicking people off Medicaid. It’s transitioning from Medicaid to employer-provided healthcare,” Senator Lankford, an ordained Baptist minister, told CNBC on Thursday (video below).

READ MORE: Trump’s DOT Is Spending Millions to Investigate If DEI Is to Blame for Plane Crashes

“So, yes, we’ve got 10 million people that are not going to be on Medicaid, but they then are going to be on an employer provided healthcare. We think that’s a better option for the taxpayer, and quite frankly, for their families, as well,” he added.

(Other reports have put the number of people losing health care or other benefits, such as SNAP, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act coverage, at at least 13.7 million.)

Journalist Jane Coaston called Lankford’s remarks “Huge news for companies like DoorDash that don’t provide health insurance to employees.”

Discussing the legislation’s work requirement, the Congressional Budget Office, (as HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney noted,) made clear: “Few of those disenrolled from Medicaid because of the policy would have access to and enroll in employment-based coverage and none would be eligible for the premium tax credit.”

Critics blasted the Oklahoma Republican.

READ MORE: ‘Made Government Newark Airport’: Moskowitz Mocks GOP, Trump Failures

“Someone tell @SenatorLankford how many jobs don’t offer health insurance. Tell him about the cost-sharing that people making $20/hr can’t afford,” observed Dr. Rob Davidson MD, MPH, head of the Committee to Protect Health Care. “They’re so detached from the people they represent, it’s no wonder they pass laws to benefit the billionaires who get them elected.”

The Washington Post’s Benjy Sarlin asked, “So you’re going to require employers provide health coverage, right?”

Podcaster and political commentator Fred Wellman, an Army combat veteran, asked, “What the f— is he talking about? We have a gig economy. Millions of employers don’t offer healthcare. He. Is. Lying.”

“Nearly 50% of employers don’t offer healthcare benefits,” noted Oklahoma Democratic state Representative Forrest Bennett. “This messaging is meant to lull folks into a false sense of security so they don’t *rightfully* scream that Trump and his Congressional allies are indeed kicking 10+ million people off of Medicaid. Don’t buy the b——-.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Vindictive Erasure’: Hegseth Ripped for Pride Month Order to Rename USNS Harvey Milk

 

Image via Shutterstock

 

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