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19-Year Old Gay Teen’s Suicide: Part 2 – “The love that dare not speak its name now never shuts up.”

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Yesterday we began our five-part series, “19-Year Old Gay Teen’s Suicide” with Part 1: “Watch The Bigots Who Pushed Him Over The Edge.” (See part three: 19-Year Old Gay Teen’s Suicide: Part 3 – “Gay” Same As “Fornicator, Adulterer, Bigamist, Prostitute”) In it, we showed you a video of a so-called concerned citizen whom I dubbed “Mr. Slippery Slope,” who had the gall to stand in front of his town’s mayor, city council and fellow citizens to protest a proclamation to name October “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.”

You’ll remember Mr. Slippery Slope predicted with certainty, should the proclamation be adopted, that homosexuality will be “infiltrated” into the schools, schools will be forced to teach about how people came out, there will be pictures of gay sex shown to children in school, “recruiting children into these lifestyles will be very easy,” hate crimes laws will be passed to discriminate against anyone who speaks out about homophobia, the bible will be banned, the bible will be called a hate book, clergy will be put in jail…

Sick.

Sadly, it is words like this, and the words you’ll hear below, that pushed nineteen-year old Zach Harrington into suicide. Yes, Zach’s parents believe their son’s death came as a result of hearing three hours of “debate” on the merits of something as innocuous as a proclamation honoring LGBT history.

The Norman, Oklahoma newspaper reports Harrington’s father, Van, while blaming the comments from the debate for his son’s suicide, doesn’t hold them solely responsible. “Van Harrington said he feels a lack of acceptance from society and what he calls a “toxic meeting” last month is what finally pushed Zach over the edge.”

I also believe we have the professional bullies to blame for this ignorance, ignorance that caused this young man’s death, and that caused the death of ten other teens in September alone.

Today, watch this Norman citizen say, “The love that dare not speak its name has become the love that never shuts up.” He then compares a proclamation for “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Month” to a proclamation for “wife-swapping.” Classy. “In conclusion,” he says, “If you choose to vote this down, no one will be physically harmed.” Think again.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dqVTe_7L1Ss%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US

Our thoughts are with the families of all teens who succumbed to suicide after enduring anti-gay hate. It is my hope that all the people who had a hand in spreading that hate, homophobia, and ignorance, turn their lives around and embrace people’s differences as much as their similarities.

I invite anyone from Norman to contact me to share their thoughts on the proclamation, and on the life and death of Zach Harrington.

Thanks to NGBlog‘s YouTube channel for providing these very important videos.

(See the next installment: 19-Year Old Gay Teen’s Suicide: Part 3 – “Gay” Same As “Fornicator, Adulterer, Bigamist, Prostitute”)

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CORRUPTION HYPOCRISY

Trump Administration Sues Facebook for Engaging in Same Hiring Practices as Trump’s Own Companies

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December 3, 2020

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The Trump Dept. of Justice is suing Facebook over its alleged practice of hiring foreign workers into jobs that could be filled by Americans workers – a practice President Donald Trump’s own golf resorts reportedly also engage in, heavily.

The Trump Dept. of Justice is “accusing the social-media company of illegally reserving high-paying jobs for immigrant workers it was sponsoring for permanent residence, rather than searching adequately for available U.S. workers who could fill the positions,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

The “Justice Department’s civil-rights division said Facebook inadequately advertised at least 2,600 positions between 2018 and 2019 that were filled by immigrants on H-1B high-skill visas when the company was applying to sponsor those workers for permanent residency, known as green cards.”

But President Trump’s own resorts are notorious for hiring immigrant workers – even ones who are undocumented – for jobs that U.S. workers could perform.

“3 Trump properties posted 144 openings for seasonal jobs. Only one went to a US worker,” Vox reported in 2018.

“A Vox analysis of hiring records for seasonal workers at three Trump properties in New York and Florida revealed that only one out of 144 jobs went to a US worker from 2016 to the end of 2017. Foreign guest workers with H-2B visas got the rest.”

That’s just one of many examples.

“For nearly two decades, the Trump Organization has relied on a roving crew of Latin American employees to build fountains and waterfalls, sidewalks and rock walls at the company’s winery and its golf courses from New York to Florida,” The Washington Post reported in 2019.

“President Trump ‘doesn’t want undocumented people in the country,’ said one worker, Jorge Castro, a 55-year-old immigrant from Ecuador without legal status who left the company in April after nine years. ‘But at his properties, he still has them.'”

“If you’re a good worker, papers don’t matter,” Castro said, a comment that has been echoed by other workers at Trump properties.

That same year The Palm Beach Post reported, “President Donald Trump aims to hire dozens of foreign workers in Palm Beach County during the 2019-2020 tourist season, continuing his longstanding practice of recruiting laborers from Romania and elsewhere.”

The President, the Post added, “aims to hire 80 at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and 14 at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.”

 

 

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BYE

Top Trump White House Communications Official Quits

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December 3, 2020

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President Donald Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah, resigned Thursday. Her resignation is effective Friday.

Farah is a top White House official, and worked for President Trump for three and a half years. She was Trump’s third Director of Strategic Communications. Hope Hicks was his first, followed for a short time by Mercedes Schlapp.

She is not leaving to start a job with another employer, but will start her own communications firm. It’s unclear why Farah is leaving now, rather than wait until the ends of Trump’s term.

The Washington Post reports Farah served as Trump’s Communications Director, technically a different job than Director of Strategic Communications, although there is a lot of overlap in the Trump administration. She would have been his eighth Communications Director. Hope Hicks literally poerformed both jobs at one point.

Farah is the highest level top Trump aide to exit since he lost the election. Staffers have been threatened with firings if they are caught job hunting outside the White House.

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'DEEP STATE'

Donald Trump’s ‘Eyes and Ears’ at DOJ Was Just Barred From the Building: Report

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December 3, 2020

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The Associated Press reported Thursday that President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department was barred from entering the building.

The report revealed that Heidi Stirrup, “an ally of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller,” was pressuring Justice Department staff to hand over sensitive documents and information about alleged “election fraud” and other issues that are important to Trump.

Attorney General Bill Barr told the AP on Tuesday that there was no widespread election fraud or voter fraud, as Trump has claimed for the past several weeks since losing the 2020 election. Trump alleged that Barr “hasn’t looked very hard.”

Stirrup was put into the DOJ as a kind of go-between to hand information to the White House.

“She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top Justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud,” the Associated Press reported, citing sources.

Less than 20 minutes later, Trump appointed the aide to the Board of Visitors to the US Air Force Academy.

 

Image: Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian via Flickr 

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