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Why I’m Proudly Voting FOR Hillary Clinton, Not Just AGAINST Donald Trump

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Democratic Nominee Isn’t Perfect, but No One’s More Experienced or Qualified, and Her Policy Positions are Right Where I Want Them to Be

Sometime in the past few weeks, the presidential election conversation shifted away from “I’m voting for … ” to “I’m voting against … ”

While I’m all for anyone voting against GOP nominee Donald Trump for pretty much any reason — and wow, are there many — I want to shift the conversation back. I’m not just voting against Trump, I’m proudly voting for Hillary Clinton.  

Before we go any further I should tell you that no, I’m not affilliated with the Clinton campaign. Yes, I’ve worked on Democratic campaigns and will probably work on others in the future, but so far, they’ve all been local or statewide races.

This is all me, and I’ll say it again: I’m proudly voting for Hillary Clinton. She’s not just the best candidate for the job in relation to the other possibilities, she’s the best we’ve seen in a long time.  

Right away, more than a few commentors on Facebook are going to start off by saying, “But Hillary wasn’t even for same-sex marriage until a couple of years ago and only because public opinion changed!” Seriously, wait a few hours after this gets posted and go check NCRM’s Facebook page. At least one person’s going to say this. 

Here’s my response: So what? She’s there now. There are lots of folks who were involved in the fight, whether on the ground or at a policy level, who gladly take wins however we can get them.

A win’s a win. She may not have been with us before, but she took the time to listen, learn and act. She’s there now and she’s gone even farther — she’s more pro-LGBT going into the election than any other major party candidate in history.

Literally, there is no other candidate in the history of our country who is or has been more pro-LGBT than Clinton is. She’s talked openly about rights that go far beyond marriage — and she hasn’t been afraid to talk about trans non-discrimination laws. In fact, I kind of love it even more when a politician’s personal views don’t always match their public policy positions because they understand that their responsibility is to their consituents and not to themeselves.

Just this week, everyone’s favorite step-dad and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine talked about how his Catholic faith guides him in his daily life, but not always in his political life. Isn’t this exactly what we want out of our leaders? People who understand that their religious beliefs are their own, and that their responsibility isn’t to minister to the masses, but to create public policy that works for everyone?

In my book, that’s paramount. Sure, I’d love it if a politician truly matched up with every one of my beliefs, but more than that, I want a politician who firmly believes in my right to live my life according to my personal beliefs, even if those beliefs differ from their own. 

Hillary Clinton is the most pro-reproductve rights candidate we’ve seen in a long, long time. She’s an ardent supporter of access to abortion, birth control, and other reproductive health needs.

In terms of healthcare, she was the pioneer who first brought the idea of universal healthcare to the US. (Seriously, that’s where the seeds of Obamacare were planted.) She’s for paid family leave — for the whole family, not just the person who gave birth, because she’s smart enough to know that the not only do adoptive parents matter just as much as biological parents, she understands the powerful bonding that happens with the non-birth parent during the first few weeks of life. 

There are so many other issues where the Clinton campaign is right where I want them to be: gun control, climate change, racial justice, worker’s rights — for me, the list goes on. And, sure, there are some issues where Clinton and I don’t see eye to eye, but that’s OK. I recognize the reality of the situation, too. Not every policy I’d like to see changed makes the most sense for the rest of the country, or, we’re just not there yet. But even with that in mind, there’s no denying that in certain areas — in foreign policy, for example, or, even just knowing how government actually works — there’s no one more experienced and qualified.

There’s no doubt that we still have plenty of work to do in many areas. No one candidate is going to be everywhere I want them to be — progress takes time. But when it comes to the person I think best matches with the majority of my issues and is most likely to make progress on them and who has experience and understands how to get things done? Hillary Clinton is the only choice. The other candidates don’t even come close. 

I’m not ignoring that she’s got some faults and she’s made mistakes. (If you want to see a list of those faults, I’m sure the good people who comment on Facebook will be happy to make a list for you.) Clinton has bravely faced those mistakes, admitted to them, taken the heat, and moved on. That’s what I want in a candidate, and that’s what I want in a president. 

I’m voting for Hillary Clinton because she’s the best person for the job. When it comes to pure experience and ability, no one else even comes close. Not by a longshot.

Robbie Medwed is an Atlanta-based LGBT activist and educator. His column appears here weekly. Follow him on Twitter @rjmedwed

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OPINION

‘I Hope You Find Happiness’: Moskowitz Trolls Comer Over Impeachment Fail

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U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) is mocking House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer over a CNN report revealing the embattled Kentucky Republican who has been alleging without proof President Joe Biden is the head of a vast multi-million dollar criminal bribery and influence-peddling conspiracy, has given up trying to impeach the leader of the free world.

CNN on Wednesday had reported, “after 15 months of coming up short in proving some of his biggest claims against the president, Comer recently approached one of his Republican colleagues and made a blunt admission: He was ready to be ‘done with’ the impeachment inquiry into Biden.” The news network described Chairman Comer as “frustrated” and his investigation as “at a dead end.”

One GOP lawmaker told CNN, “Comer is hoping Jesus comes so he can get out.”

“He is fed up,” the Republican added.

Despite the Chairman’s alleged remarks, “a House Oversight Committee spokesperson maintains that ‘the impeachment inquiry is ongoing and impeachment is 100% still on the table.'”

RELATED: ‘Used by the Russians’: Moskowitz Mocks Comer’s Biden Impeachment Failure

Last week, Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) got into a shouting match with Chairman Comer, with the Maryland Democrat saying, “You have not identified a single crime – what is the crime that you want to impeach Joe Biden for and keep this nonsense going?” and Comer replying, “You’re about to find out.”

Before those heated remarks, Congressman Raskin chided Comer, humorously threatening to invite Rep. Moskowitz to return to the hearing.

Congressman Moskowitz appears to be the only member of the House Oversight Committee who has ever made a motion to call for a vote on impeaching President Biden, which he did last month, although he did it to ridicule Chairman Comer.

It appears the Moskowitz-Comer “bromance” may be over.

Wednesday afternoon Congressman Moskowitz, whose sarcasm is becoming well-known, used it to ridicule Chairman Comer.

“I was hoping our breakup would never become public,” he declared. “We had such a great thing while it lasted James. I will miss the time we spent together. I will miss our conversations. I will miss the pet names you gave me. I only wish you the best and hope you find happiness.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

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OPINION

‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

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The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case centered on the question, can the federal government require states with strict abortion bans to allow physicians to perform abortions in emergency situations, specifically when the woman’s health, but not her life, is in danger?

The 1986 federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), signed into law by Republican President Ronald Reagan, says it can. The State of Idaho on Wednesday argued it cannot.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, The Washington Post’s Kim Bellware reported, “made a clear delineation between Idaho law and what EMTALA provides.”

“In Idaho, doctors have to shut their eyes to everything except death,” Prelogar said, according to Bellware. “Whereas under EMTALA, you’re supposed to be thinking about things like, ‘Is she about to lose her fertility? Is her uterus going to become incredibly scarred because of the bleeding? Is she about to undergo the possibility of kidney failure?’ ”

READ MORE: Gag Order Breach? Trump Targeted Cohen in Taped Interview Hours Before Contempt Hearing

Attorney Imani Gandy, an award-winning journalist and Editor-at-Large for Rewire News Group, highlighted an issue central to the case.

“The issue of medical judgment vs. good faith judgment is a huge one because different states have different standards of judgment,” she writes. “If a doctor exercises their judgment, another doctor expert witness at trial could question that. That’s a BIG problem here. That’s why doctors are afraid to provide abortions. They may have an overzealous prosecutor come behind them and disagree.”

Right-wing Justice Samuel Alito appeared to draw the most fire from legal experts, as his questioning suggested “fetal personhood” should be the law, which it is not.

“Justice Alito is trying to import fetal personhood into federal statutory law by suggesting federal law might well prohibit hospitals from providing abortions as emergency stabilizing care,” observed Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.

Paraphrasing Justice Alito, Kreis writes: “Alito: How can the federal government restrict what Idaho criminalizes simply because hospitals in Idaho have accepted federal funds?”

Appearing to answer that question, Georgia State University College of Law professor of law and Constitutional scholar Eric Segall wrote: “Our Constitution unequivocally allows the federal gov’t to offer the states money with conditions attached no matter how invasive b/c states can always say no. The conservative justices’ hostility to the spending power is based only on politics and values not text or history.”

Professor Segall also served up some of the strongest criticism of the right-wing justice.

READ MORE: ‘They Will Have Thugs?’: Lara Trump’s Claim RNC Will ‘Physically Handle the Ballots’ Stuns

He wrote that Justice Alito “is basically making it clear he doesn’t care if pregnant women live or die as long as the fetus lives.”

Earlier Wednesday morning Segall had issued a warning: “Trigger alert: In about 20 minutes several of the conservative justices are going to show very clearly that that they care much more about fetuses than women suffering major pregnancy complications which is their way of owning the libs which is grotesque.”

Later, predicting “Alito is going to dissent,” Segall wrote: “Alito is dripping arrogance and condescension…in a case involving life, death, and medical emergencies. He has no bottom.”

Taking a broader view of the case, NYU professor of law Melissa Murray issued a strong warning: “The EMTALA case, Moyle v. US, hasn’t received as much attention as the mifepristone case, but it is huge. Not only implicates access to emergency medical procedures (like abortion in cases of miscarriage), but the broader question of federal law supremacy.”

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

 

 

 

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Gag Order Breach? Trump Targeted Cohen in Taped Interview Hours Before Contempt Hearing

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Hours before his attorneys would mount a defense on Tuesday claiming he had not violated his gag order Donald Trump might have done just that in a 12-minute taped interview that morning, which did not air until later that day. It will be up to Judge Juan Merchan to make that decision, if prosecutors add it to their contempt request.

Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told Judge Juan Merchan that the ex-president violated the gag order ten times, via posts on his Truth Social platform, and are asking he be held in contempt. While the judge has yet to rule, he did not appear moved by their arguments. At one point, Judge Merchan told Trump’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche he was “losing all credibility” with the court.

And while Judge Merchan directed defense attorneys to provide a detailed timeline surrounding Trump’s Truth Social posts to prove he had not violated the gag order, Trump in an interview with a local television station appeared to have done so.

READ MORE: ‘They Will Have Thugs?’: Lara Trump’s Claim RNC Will ‘Physically Handle the Ballots’ Stuns

The gag order bars Trump from “commenting or causing others to comment on potential witnesses in the case, prospective jurors, court staff, lawyers in the district attorney’s office and the relatives of any counsel or court staffer, as CBS News reported.

“The threat is very real,” Judge Merchan wrote when he expanded the gag order. “Admonitions are not enough, nor is reliance on self-restraint. The average observer, must now, after hearing Defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well. Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself.”

Tuesday morning, Trump told ABC Philadelphia’s Action News reporter Walter Perez, “Michael Cohen is a convicted liar. He’s got no credibility whatsoever.”

He repeated that Cohen is a “convicted liar,” and insisted he “was a lawyer for many people, not just me.”

READ MORE: ‘Old and Tired and Mad’: Trump’s Demeanor in Court Detailed by Rachel Maddow

Since Cohen is a witness in Trump’s New York criminal case, Judge Merchan might decide Trump’s remarks during that interview violated the gag order, if prosecutors bring the video to his attention.

Enter attorney George Conway, who has been attending Trump’s New York trial.

Conway reposted a clip of the video, tagged Manhattan District Attorney Bragg, writing: “cc: @ManhattanDA, for your proposed order to show cause why the defendant in 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘷. 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 should not spend some quiet time in lockup.”

Trump has been criminally indicted in four separate cases and is facing a total of 88 felony charges, including 34 in this New York criminal trial for alleged falsification of business records to hide payments of “hush money” to an adult film actress and one other woman, in an alleged effort to suppress their stories and protect his 2016 presidential campaign, which experts say is election interference.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

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