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American Family Association Pushing List Of AIDS Deniers — From 1991

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Bryan Fischer, Director of Issue Analysis for the American Family Association (AFA), Saturday was pushing a webpage — virusmyth.com – from 1991 that “questions” the “hypothesis” that HIV causes AIDS, falsely claiming there are “serious questions about HIV as the cause of AIDS.” The site lists 78 Ph.Ds, 46 M.D.s, six people who are “authors,” one veterinarian, and dozens of other apparently uncredentialed people who apparently just felt like offering their name to this list of people who, from 1991 – 1993 — yes, before two decades and millions of dollars of research — suggest that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. Of course, the website’s URL says exactly where they are on the spectrum of crazy: VIRUSmyth.com.

Fischer, an AIDS denialist and the public face of the American Family Association — which is certified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group on the same plane as “God Hates Fags” — actually is pushing this fatal claim that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, and decided that at 9:59 PM on a Saturday he’d tell the world, via Twitter:

 

Apparently Fischer didn’t have enough characters left to mention the list is two decades old, and I guarantee you that there are plenty of folks on this list who regret allowing their name to be used — assuming they actually did.

But don’t worry — you too can sign the letter. Because, anyone can. Amusingly, Bryan Fischer did not — nor did he respond to my tweet.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, they are not entitled to their own facts, and pushing this myth is not only a bad idea, it is a potentially fatal one. By lying about the cause of AIDS, Bryan Fischer is potentially bringing harm to those who actually believe his claptrap.

This is far from the first time Fischer and the American Family Association tried to jam down the public’s throat the lie that HIV does not cause AIDS.

Of course, Fischer was far from shy about blaming Rep. Barney Frank — upon the news of his resigning from Congress — for millions of people contracting HIV/AIDS:

“Who knows how many people were drawn or encouraged in some way by Barney Frank’s example to dabble in a lifestyle that eventually cost them their health and maybe even cost them their lives,” Fischer crowed last year.

And in January, as The New Civil Rights Movement wrote, Fischer:

“promote[d] the lethal and widely-discredited theory that HIV does not cause AIDS, by touting the cherry-picked research of Peter Duesberg, whose work has led, some say, to the infection and/or death of hundreds of thousands of HIV/AIDS infected babies in South Africa. Fischer today called the scientifically-proven HIV to AIDS link a ‘hoax,’ a ‘scam,’ and said that people with AIDS ‘reap what they sow’.”

Just a few days later, Fischer, again, as The New Civil Rights Movement wrote, falsely claimed that 96% of gays are drug users, gays have hundreds, sometimes over 1000 sex partners, and again claimed that drug use, not HIV, causes AIDS.

“God’s design is one sexual partner for life,” Fischer stated. “Now, in the homosexual community, the average homosexual has hundreds of sexual partners over the course of a lifetime. Hundreds. Some of them have between 500 and 1000 and there are any number of homosexuals, and they admit this in their own literature, have more then a 1000 sexual partners.”

…

“And we know, [Peter] Duesberg say, look we know, we can demonstrate in the lab the way these nitrites, the way these inhalants break down the immune system. And the research indicates that 96% of the people who engage actively in homosexuality, homosexual behavior, use these nitrites. The inhalants are very common.

“So he suggests that this is the cause of AIDS: it’s the rampant promiscuity, coupled with this drug use. That’s what causes the human immune system to break down.”

These are but a few examples of how Bryan Fischer and the American Family Association are spreading lies about gay people in order to demonize and marginalize the LGBT community. And put the health of those who actually believe his lies, in jeopardy.

But Fischer is playing with fire. And, as the world knows all too well, HIV/AIDS is an equal opportunity disease.

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‘Isn’t Glock a Good Gun?’ Trump Asks Before Saying He Is Buying One – Campaign Forced to Deny He Did

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September 25, 2023

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During a photo shoot at a South Carolina gun shop, Donald Trump posed with and then said he wanted to buy a Glock, asking if it is “a good gun.”

Some say it might be illegal to sell a gun to anyone under criminal indictment, and if he took the gun with him that too might be illegal. It was not clear if, despite saying he would, he actually bought the firearm. The Trump campaign initially said he had, although later backtracked on its claim, and deleted the social media post saying he had.

In the photo op (video below,) Trump posed with several people, including the Republican Attorney General of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, who has held that elected position since 2011.

“Trump’s spokesman announced that Trump bought a Glock today in South Carolina. He even posted video,” wrote former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob. “If Trump took the gun with him, that’s a federal crime since he’s under indictment. There’s also a law against selling a gun to someone under federal indictment like Trump.”

READ MORE: ‘Poof’: White House Mocks Stunned Fox News Host as GOP’s Impeachment Case Evaporates on Live Air

Reuters’ crime and justice reporter Brad Heath posted the federal laws that might apply, as well as Trump’s campaign spokesperson’s clip of the ex-president’s remarks, and his spokesperson saying, “President Trump purchases a @GLOCKInc in South Carolina!”

CNN analyst Stephen Gutowski, who writes about gun policy, added, “It would be a crime for him to actually buy this gun because he’s under felony indictment. Did he actually go through with this purchase?”

“People under felony indictments can’t ‘receive’ new firearms. That also means you can’t buy them,” he also wrote.

MSNBC anchor and legal contributor Katie Phang wrote, “I don’t know if he actually bought the gun. At least it didn’t happen in this video. Also, the Attorney General of South Carolina is in this video. Is he watching Trump commit a crime?”

But some pointed to a federal judge in Texas’ ruling from last year. Reuters reported, a “federal law prohibiting people under felony indictment from buying firearms is unconstitutional.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

 

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‘Poof’: White House Mocks Stunned Fox News Host as GOP’s Impeachment Case Evaporates on Live Air

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2 hours ago

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September 25, 2023

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The White House is mocking a Fox News host who appeared stunned as the former President of Ukraine destroyed House Republicans’ impeachment case against President Joe Biden on live-air in real time.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, a supporter of Donald Trump, on Monday interviewed former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, who served from 2014-2019. Kilmeade previously had interviewed Viktor Shokin, the former Prosecutor General of Ukraine, who was fired in 2016 for not prosecuting corruption cases.

“I had a chance to talk to Viktor Shokin, a man who says he was friends of yours, who you asked to come back and help out during the transition after the previous regime,” Kilmeade told Poroshenko. “Here’s what he said on why he was fired by you. Listen.”

On previously recorded video, Shokin says: “Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then Vice President Biden, because I was investigating Burisma… There were no complaints whatsoever, no problems with how I was performing at my job, but because pressure was repeatedly put on President Poroshenko that is, what ended up in him firing me.”

READ MORE: ‘Height of Irresponsibility’: Top LGBTQ Civil Rights Group Slams House Republicans Over Shutdown and ‘Politics of Hate’

Kilmeade then asks the former Ukrainian President, “Is that why he got fired, because of the billion dollars and the former vice president now President?”

“First of all, this is the completely crazy person,” Poroshenko says of Shokin, as Kilmeade grows increasingly stunned. “This is something wrong with him. Second, there is no one single word of truth. And third, I hate the idea to come to make any commands and to make any intervention in an American election. We have very much enjoyed the bipartisan support. And please do not use the such person like Shokin to undermine the trust between bipartisan support in Ukraine.”

Surprised, Kilmeade asks, “What do you mean, he’s not your friend?”

“I don’t see him maybe for years or something, at all,” Poroshenko tells Kilmeade, before getting a bit heated. “And I hate to have him, because [he] keep playing very dirty game, unfortunately.”

“Okay,” the surprised Fox News host says, before asking again. “So that is not true. You didn’t, you didn’t, he didn’t get fired because of Joe Biden?”

READ MORE: ‘Careening’ Toward ‘Risk of Political Violence’: Experts Sound Alarm After Trump Floats Executing His Former General

“He was fired,” Poroshenko replied. “But because of his own statement, and if you do not do that next day, Ukrainian parliament will fire him.”

HuffPost’s political reporter Arthur Delaney, responding to the video, writes: “This is the centerpiece of the Republicans’ corruption allegation against Joe Biden.”

While debunked numerous times during Trump’s presidency, Republicans have resurfaced the false claim that then-Vice President Biden forced then-president Poroshenko to fire Shokin in an effort to protect Burisma. Shokin was not investigating Burisma, according to a CNN fact check.

“Poroshenko is absolutely right here and good for him for stating clearly how dangerous it is that his false story is being used to play political games with n the US. Shokin’s claims have no basis in reality. He was fired for incompetence and failing to crack down on corruption,” writes the Financial Times’ Ukraine correspondent Christopher Miller.

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) mocked Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer, writing on social media, “Ummm @RepJamesComer call your office.”

White House spokesperson Ian Sams went further, while pointing out the allegation just evaporated.

READ MORE: Gaetz Praises GOP Congressman Who Echoes His Call for Change ‘Through Force’

“Not only does he play a leading role in the conspiracy theories promoted by Fox News personalities – he is central to the conspiracy theories animating extreme House Republicans’ baseless, fact-free impeachment stunt against President Biden,” Sams wrote. “Yet another allegation goes *poof*”

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

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‘Height of Irresponsibility’: Top LGBTQ Civil Rights Group Slams House Republicans Over Shutdown and ‘Politics of Hate’

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4 hours ago

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September 25, 2023

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The nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization on Monday released a 30-second TV ad attacking House Republicans for their “politics of hate” and for bring the federal government to the edge of a shutdown. The government will shut down unless the House can pass legislation to keep it open, legislation the Senate would have to vote on and pass, and President Joe Biden would have to sign, all before midnight on September 30.

“You sent your representative to Washington to work on behalf of everyday Americans, like you. But House Republicans spent the summer trying to divide us and failing to pass essential spending bills,” says the voiceover on the Human Rights Campaign‘s ad, expected to air nationwide according to The Hill.

“Instead, they’re trying to limit the health care you and your family can access, ban books and flags and block enforcement of civil rights laws, all while risking the government grinding to a halt.”

“Tell Congress to reject the politics of hate and get back to work,” the video adds.

READ MORE: ‘Careening’ Toward ‘Risk of Political Violence’: Experts Sound Alarm After Trump Floats Executing His Former General

“In addition to attaching numerous anti-LGBTQ+ provisions to their draft spending bills,” HRC adds in a press release, “the legislative attacks from Republicans in the House of Representatives also include stand-alone bills such as H.R. 734 — a nationwide ban on transgender students playing sports — as well as larger legislative packages like H.R. 5, which included book bans and provisions stigmatizing transgender students. The new ad from HRC, which will air nationwide, calls on voters to contact members and tell them to stand with the American people, reject the extremism of those like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and others, and take action to prevent a shutdown.”

“A shutdown is the height of irresponsibility and would interrupt critical government services, hurt working families, and endanger our national security,” said Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign. “This outcome was entirely avoidable, but House Republicans have instead hijacked the appropriations process to attack LGBTQ+ communities rather than doing their jobs. It’s past time for them to stop pushing an extremist agenda that’s a danger to us all.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

 

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