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Illinois Next Gay Marriage Battlefield?

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Land Of Lincoln Set To Get Marriage Equality?

Illinois State Senator Heather Steans today introduced a bill that could make Illinois the next state to offer marriage equality. A matching bill has been repeatedly introduced in the Illinois House by openly-gay State Representative Greg Harris.

The two lawmakers wrote an Op-Ed, published yesterday in the Windy City Times, writing,

“Over and over again, our collective American community has learned the painful lesson that separate can never be equal. In the 19th century, women across this country came together to fight for the basic right to vote. In the 20th century, it took a brave young girl in Kansas to teach us that we cannot provide equal education in segregated classrooms. Marriage equality is our civil rights battle for the 21st century. When one of us is discriminated against, we are all discriminated against.”

Bernard Cherkasov, Chief Executive Officer of Equality Illinois, said of the bill,

“This is not an issue of sacred versus secular – there are plenty of synagogues and churches that both recognize and perform same-sex marriages.”

“Rather, marriage is a civil right – plain and simple.  The state cannot have a civil institution of marriage – with its plethora of benefits, rights, and responsibilities – and exclude from it an entire class of citizens.”

Thinking about the bill’s chances, here are a few facts about Illinois.

Looking at twenty one different data points, the Associated Press named Illinois the “most average state”

Almost thirteen million people live in the “Land of Lincoln.” 75% are Christian, of those, 30% are Roman Catholic. Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists account for 1% each. 81% are white, 16% are black.

The largest city in Illinois, Chicago, where Barack and Michelle Obama made their home, has a population of close to three million.

Overall, the state has become heavily Democratic.

Pat Quinn, the Democratic Governor, this spring said he supports civil unions for same sex couples, but has not offered an opinion in favor of gay marriage. His predecessor, the disgraced Rod Blagojevich, signed a gay rights law in 2005. From 1977 – 2003, all Illinois Governors had been Republicans.

A 2005 poll put 31% of residents supporting gay marriage, and another 34% supporting civil unions.

Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley supports same sex marriage, as do a number of Democratic politicians, including Dan Hynes, who is running for governor,  Illinois’ U.S. Rep Mike Quigley, and Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who is running for U.S. Senate.

Let’s hope.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene Targets Former Biden Official’s Religious Faith in House Hearing

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January 15, 2025

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During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) invoked God and religion to harshly question Martin O’Malley, the former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and a former Governor of Maryland, about his personal views on abortion and his Catholic faith.

In her highly confrontational interrogation of O’Malley, a longtime Democrat who also served as Governor of Maryland for eight years and ran for president in 2016, Congresswoman Greene, a self-avowed Christian nationalist, invoked his Catholic faith to attack his beliefs about abortion.

“Since you’re very interested in being DNC chair, you are after all a lifelong Democrat politician — I don’t even know if you had a job in the real world, but you have been an elected politician for years,” Greene accused (video below). “Mr. O’Malley you’re also a Catholic, are you not?”

“I am,” O’Malley confirmed.

READ MORE: Trump Vowed ‘100%’ to End Ukraine War Before Inauguration — Now He Says It’s ‘Up to Putin’

“Do you serve God or do you serve the Democrat Party?” Greene asked.

“I serve God,” O’Malley responded.

An off-camera committee member interjected: “Mr. Chairman, as a Roman Catholic, I take offense at the suggestion that somebody has [inaudible] to God and their service as a Catholic.”

Greene tried to talk over the objection, which went unaddressed by the Republican majority chair.

“Mr. O’Malley, will you be supporting the murder of the unborn up until the day of birth like your party does? As DNC chair, will you be supporting the murder of innocent unborn people? Is that in line with your faith in God and the Catholic Church?” Greene said, appearing to grandstand.

“I trust the judgment of women and doctors over the judgment of government,” O’Malley patiently replied.

“Now, do you trust God’s judgment?” Greene continued. “Do you trust God that he loves and has created every single human being? Do you support the murder of unborn children and are you going to uphold that evil practice that the Democrat Party wants to continue? You see, abortions over 95% of them are unintended pregnancies. They use abortions as birth control. So are you going to continue the birth control practice of murdering the unborn children as chair of the DNC? Will that be, that be a policy?”

READ MORE: Pam Bondi Refuses to Say Trump Legitimately Lost the 2020 Election in Confirmation Hearing

O’Malley, appearing to near the end of his patience, replied, “I am pro-choice, and I trust the judgment of women and their doctors over judgments of government.`

“Well, thank you for letting God know where you stand with the murder of —” Greene snapped back before O’Malley interjected.

“I talk to God every day,” he declared.

“Yeah, well you might want to talk to him a little bit more, Mr. O’Malley, because you’re definitely in the wrong,” Greene charged.

The Republican from Georgia was not finished.

Minutes later she posted a short clip of her attack on O’Malley to social media, and wrote: “WATCH: ‘Catholic’ Martin O’Malley confirms abortion is the sacrament of the Democrat Party.”

O’Malley has been called “a Pope Francis Democrat” and a “a pray-every-morning, church-every-Sunday” believer, according to a 2015 Religion News Service article.

Watch the video below or at this link.

RELATED: ‘Antisemitism Is Wrong, But’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pilloried for Promoting Antisemitic Claim

 

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Trump Vowed ‘100%’ to End Ukraine War Before Inauguration — Now He Says It’s ‘Up to Putin’

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January 15, 2025

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On the campaign trail last year, candidate Donald Trump, time after time, not only suggested he could swiftly bring an end to Russia’s unlawful war against Ukraine, but at times even insisted he could—and would—do it before being sworn into office. But with Inauguration Day fast approaching, President-elect Donald Trump has washed his hands of a peace settlement, instead declaring that any resolution is now entirely in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I would fix that within 24 hours, and if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled. 100% sure,” Trump said on Fox News in March 2024, HuffPost reported.

“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled — we’re going to get it settled and stop the death,” Trump adamantly told supporters in June 2024.

READ MORE: Pam Bondi Refuses to Say Trump Legitimately Lost the 2020 Election in Confirmation Hearing

“I would fix that within 24 hours, and, if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled. 100% sure,” Trump vowed as far back as March 2023.

“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours,” Trump said again just months later, at a CNN town hall in May 2023, as TIME reported. “It will be over. It will be absolutely over.”

These are just a few of the many times Trump promised to personally end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Now, he has an entirely different set of promises.

Sunday night, during an interview with Newsmax, Trump was asked, “You’ve said you want the Ukraine war ended in 6 months. What is the strategy to do that?”

“Well, there’s only one strategy,” Trump replied, “and it’s up to Putin. And I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with the way it’s gone, because it hasn’t got exactly well for him either. And I know he wants to meet and I’m gonna meet very quickly.”

READ MORE: Torture? Shoot Protesters? Greenland? Question After Question, Hegseth Refused to Answer

“I would’ve done it sooner but…you have to get into the office. For some of the things, you do have to be there,” Trump conceded, Reuters reported.

At a press conference last week, Trump went from promising peace before he took office, to six months after.

“I hope to have six months,” Trump told reporters, USA Today reported, before adding, “I hope long before six months.”

Trump has named Keith Kellogg to be his Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Kellogg, appearing to attempt to split the difference, settled on a timeline for peace of just over three months.

“Let’s set it at 100 days and move all the way back and figure a way we can do this in the near-term to make sure that the solution is solid, it’s sustainable, and that this war ends so that we stop the carnage,” he said, HuffPost reported.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Loyalty to a Tyrant’: Cheney Invokes Jack Smith’s Report to Warn Senate on Trump Nominees

 

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Pam Bondi Refuses to Say Trump Legitimately Lost the 2020 Election in Confirmation Hearing

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5 hours ago

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January 15, 2025

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Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who helped Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, refused to unequivocally state that he lost the election during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday to become U.S. Attorney General.

If confirmed, Bondi would be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, and would have the final say on which crimes are prosecuted and which are not. Donald Trump has promised to pardon some, if not all, of those convicted of crimes related to his January 6, 2021 insurrection. Bondi has promised to investigate those inside the Justice Department who prosecuted the January 6 rioters and others connected to the attack on the Capitol and the insurrection.

Telling Bondi that “central to the peaceful competition of power in a democracy is the acceptance of the results of an election,” Democratic Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin stated, “To my knowledge, Donald Trump has never acknowledged the legal results of the 2020 election.”

“Are you prepared to say today, under oath, without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020?” Durbin asked Bondi.

READ MORE: Torture? Shoot Protesters? Greenland? Question After Question, Hegseth Refused to Answer

“Ranking Member Durbin, President Biden is the president of the United States,” Bondi said, sidestepping the question. “He was duly sworn in and he is the President of the United States. There was a peaceful transition of power. President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024.”

Having not given a direct answer, Durbin pressed on.

“Do you have any doubts that Joe Biden had the majority of votes — electoral votes — necessary to be elected president in 2020?” he asked.

“You know, Senator, all I can tell you as a prosecutor is from my first hand experience. And I accept the results,” Bondi, still not answering directly, replied.

“I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is President of the United States,” she added, “but what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania, as an advocate for the campaign — I was an advocate for the campaign and I was on the ground in Pennsylvania and I saw many things there, but do I accept the results? Of course I do.”

“Do I agree with what happened in — I saw so much, you know, no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country. We should all want our elections to be free and fair and the rules and the laws to be followed,” Bondi lectured.

Durbin expressed his dissatisfaction.

“I think that question deserved yes or no, and I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren’t prepared to answer yes,” he told her.

The New York Times reported that during Wednesday’s hearing, Bondi “would not explicitly say that Mr. Trump lost in 2020.”

During the presidential campaign, Bondi vowed on Fox News that “The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted — the bad ones.”

RELATED: ‘Loyalty to a Tyrant’: Cheney Invokes Jack Smith’s Report to Warn Senate on Trump Nominees

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, Bondi “played an early and active role in spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election.”

“The investigators will be investigated,” she added.

Watch the videos below or at this link.

 

READ MORE: FBI Report on Hegseth ‘Insufficient’ Says Top Dem: ‘I Do Not Believe You Are Qualified’

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