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TN Lawmaker: Gay Kids Commit Suicide Because Their Parents Don’t Instill Good Values

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Editor’s Note: Please read “Tennessee Anti-Gay Lawmakers Keep Voting To Protect Lawbreakers Not Kids,” which includes a revealing “apology” from Rep. Faison.

A Tennessee Republican Tea Party lawmaker today blamed poor parenting and exempted bullying as the cause of gay youth and teen suicides. State Rep. Jeremy Faison stood on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives and argued against a cyberbullying bill, lamenting that kids who literally bully their fellow classmates to death could be charged as criminals instead of given detention.

“We can’t continue to legislate everything,” Rep. Faison said today, and in the video below. “We’ve had some horrible things happen in America and in our state, and there’s children that have actually committed suicide, but I will submit to you today that they did not commit suicide because of somebody bullying them. They committed suicide because they were not instilled the proper principles of where their self-esteem came from at home.”

Rep. Faison reads to children. Statistically, at least one of them will be bullied. Faison thinks that’s their parent’s fault. What do you think?

Note that the Tennessee Legislature apparently does think you can “continue to legislate everything.” Yesterday they passed a law making miscarriage murder, last week a Tennessee House committee passed their infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill, two weeks ago the Tennessee Legislature passed a bill that protects teachers who teach creationism, and those who welcome “debate” on culture war issues like global warming, and also two weeks ago the Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would classify holding hands as “gateway sexual activity.” Yes, Tennessee wants to protect children from holding hands Tennessee wants to protect eggs from miscarriages, protect teachers who wield Bibles as schoolbooks, but the Tennessee Legislature refuses to protect LGBTQ kids — or those just perceived as LGBTQ — from bullies.

Chas Sisk at The Tennessean adds:

The Tennessee Democratic Party condemned Faison’s statement within minutes.

“Did Rep. Faison just say that kids commit suicide because they haven’t been instilled with the right values? What a disgrace,” the party wrote on its Twitter feed.

The Tennessee Democratic party wrote on their website today:

Faison is apparently blaming the parents of suicide victims for their inability to “instill the proper principles” in their children. What a disgrace. Now, of course a tall and burly Faison doesn’t see any problems with bullying, as he admitted, he was perfectly capable of defending himself or dishing out punishment as he saw fit. But many kids don’t have that ability. That is why laws like these need to be passed.

It is unfortunate that some in the Republican Party have become the protectors of bullies Of course, it is not terribly surprising, because as a legislative group they are nothing but bullies, disparaging and demeaning those without power in this country in order to build themselves up. So it is no wonder that they would see no big deal with the problems associated with childhood bullying in this country, and become the defenders of harassment.

Faison, 35, quotes “Glen Beck” and lists the 9/12 Project on his campaign website, and writes as his biography:

I remember as a little feller hearing the men in our church talk about politics after the service.  I remember hearing frustrated questions like, “When are we going to get somebody IN THERE who votes like a real person ought to vote?” or “Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone represent us that is not a career politician?”

Let me introduce myself, my name is Jeremy Faison and I am running for State Representative for Cocke and Western Greene County.  I am 33 years old and the daddy of 4 children Beka, Gage, Regan, and Asher.  My wife’s name is Miriam and we live in Cosby.  I am a proud member of the NRA.  God, family, fishing, hunting and music are a few of my favorite things. We own a pest control company in town.  We work very hard to provide for ourselves and our employees.  We feel a personal responsibility to this area. East Tennessee is a wonderful place and we desire to see this area grow economically. People should not have to leave this area to provide for their families.  We are rich in natural resources and ripe for opportunity.

 

You can contact Rep. Jeremy Faison via his page on the Tennessee House government website, Project VoteSmart, or Facebook.

 

This article has been updated in 2021 to correct technical glitches.

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No Indictment in the Trump Hush Money Payoff Case for at Least Another Month

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Despite his false claim he would be indicted last week, Donald Trump isn’t going to see any indictment any time soon – at least not by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s grand jury investigating his role in the hush money payoff to Stormy Daniels.

The grand jury will be on hiatus from the Trump case for the next month, according to Politico, which says the break was previously planned.

Jurors are not expected to hear any evidence in the case this week or next week, and will break for the Passover holiday next Thursday. They will be off for the following two weeks, Politico’s source says, citing a schedule drawn up in January.

“There is no official deadline for bringing an indictment against Trump, although there were indications in recent weeks that the grand jury’s activity was nearing a vote, particularly when prosecutors offered Trump the chance to testify before the panel. That is typically one of the final steps of a criminal investigation,” Politico notes.

READ MORE: Here’s How Five Republicans in Congress Are Responding to the Mass Shooting of 3 Children and 3 Adults in Nashville (Video)

There is one caveat to the “no official deadline” claim. Journalist Marcy Wheeler notes, if the grand jury “were to charge witness tampering in conjunction with the Costello [communications] to [Michael] Cohen, they would create a hard deadline before the end of April.”

Costello is Robert Costello, who Trump asked the grand jury to interview, hoping he would refute his longtime former attorney’s testimony.

Of course, anything is possible and DA Bragg could call the grand jury into session at any time.

There is also the unlikely possibility that he will not ask them to vote on an indictment in the case. They could also vote against indicting Trump.

 

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‘Can You Imagine if the Left Did This?’: Morning Joe Profanely Condemns Trump’s Celebration of J6 ‘Rioters and Convicts’

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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough profanely bashed Donald Trump and his Republican defenders for celebrating Jan. 6 insurrectionists as heroes.

The former president showed a video of jailed rioters singing a song, “Justice for All,” and the national anthem during a campaign rally in Waco, Texas, and Trump defended them and raged against “thug” prosecutors — and the “Morning Joe” host tried to imagine if anyone else had done something similar.

“Can you imagine if the left did this?” Scarborough said. “They have the leading candidate for president, for the nomination for the presidency praising — they have put together a choir of convicts who beat the sh*t out of cops with an American flag. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, would you like me to say it in a nicer way? They beat the crap out of cops with an American flag, and four died, and their families directly blame the assault [on] the rioters. They defecated in the Capitol.”

“Can you imagine if left-wingers did all of that, and then Bernie Sanders says, ‘I have a good idea, let’s make a choir, we can celebrate the fact that they defecated on the cops, we can do that — why, that will help us?'” Scarborough continued. “I mean, think about that, what would Newsmax say, what would Fox say, what would all of these right wing — they are openly praising rioters and convicts.”

READ MORE: GOP probes ‘seem to be flopping’ as voters see them as ‘revenge’: analysis

“This is the hero of the Republican Party, these are the heroes of Donald Trump, these are the heroes of [Marjorie Taylor Greene],” he added. “This is who they love.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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‘Restore My Account Immediately’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Cries After Twitter Suspends Her Over Anti-Trans Tweets

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is lashing out at Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk after the social media company, she says, suspended her official government account for seven days for posting apparently anti-transgender tweets. At least four of her tweets appear to have been deleted.

Rep. Greene appears to have been promoting an unverified claim that “Antifa” and transgender activists are planning a “Trans Day of Vengeance.” Fox News is also claiming there is a “Trans Day of Vengeance,” and a website the report links to says it will be on April 1.

“My Congressional account was suspended for 7 days for exposing Antifa, who are organizing a call for violence called ‘Trans Day of Vengeance.’ The day after the mass murder of children by a trans shooter. Restore my account immediately,” Greene demanded, tagging Musk, Twitter Safety, and the head of Twitter Safety, Ella Irwin.

There is no evidence that “Antifa” which is not an actual group, has anything to do with the alleged Trans Day of Vengeance.

The Independent adds Greene made “unfounded” claims “about the Nashville school shooting being a product of ‘Antifa’ and ‘trans-terrorism.'”

According to The Hill, Congresswoman Greene tweeted a poster of the alleged event, and Twitter removed the post, so she repeatedly reposted it, only to have Twitter remove it.

Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, tweeted: “We had to automatically sweep our platform and remove >5000 tweets /retweets of this poster. We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them. ‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.”

On her personal Twitter account, Greene also promoted a similar, baseless claim:

“In the wake of a transgender shooter targeting a Christian school and murdering kids, every American should know the threat of Antifa driven trans-terrorism. Twitter should not whitewash the incitement of politically motivated violence,” she said, pointing to another of her tweets that had been removed.

Greene on Monday made anti-trans remarks in the wake of the the Nashville shooting.

“How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking? Everyone can stop blaming guns now,” she said.

Currently, numerous right-wing and far-right wing Twitter accounts are linking the alleged Trans Day of Vengeance to Monday’s horrific Covenant Presbyterian elementary school shooting in Nashville, where three nine-year olds and three adults were shot to death. The shooter allegedly identified as transgender, according to Nashville police.

 

 

 

 

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