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NY Same-Sex Marriage: Why NOM’s 10,000 Protesters Lie Is So Embarrassing

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Did Maggie Gallagher’s NOM Attend The Michele Malkin School Of Counting?

NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, in a press release published Monday, falsely stated that “nearly 10,000 people were present” at their anti-gay, anti-same-sex marriage, anti-equality hate rally in midtown Manhattan, fallaciously titled, “Let The People Vote!” But police reports put the attendees at “more than 3,000 supporters,” (i.e., under 4,000) with news outlets mostly recording the attendees as “several thousand people.” Of course, NOM’s own press release fraudulently adds, “NOM estimates that well in excess of 10,000 supporters attended the four rallies” that they held across the state. Fantasy numbers like these, while ludicrous, are also embarrassing for Maggie Gallagher and her National Organization For Marriage. Why?

First, you should know, even that bastion of conservatism, The Wall Street Journal, didn’t look too kindly upon NOM’s rally antics. “If the National Organization for Marriage were a commercial enterprise, its ‘Let the People Vote’ campaign would be a case of deceptive advertising,” the Journal wrote Monday, adding, “the language on [NOM’s Let The People Vote] site implies that the Legislature acted illegitimately when it ‘imposed same-sex marriage on New York with no vote of the people.’ Such a vote is not part of the ordinary procedure for enacting legislation in New York, and it is misleading to pretend otherwise.”

Ouch.

Now, back to that pesky “nearly 10,000 people were present” claim. For those who don’t know, crowd estimates are a delicate science, and entire companies are built around that expertise. Remember the September, 2009 Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C.? ABC News reported the D.C. Fire Department estimate at 70,000, but right-wing extremist Michelle Malkin all but swore it was two million. To get from 70,000 to 2,000,000, you would have to take those 70,000 people and have each and every one of them bring 27 of their friends to get close to 2,000,000 people. Malkin later apologized (as should NOM,) but statistician Nate Silver of 538.com, (now a New York Times property,) stated, “Malkin herself did not lie; she merely repeated a lie. It does not particularly call into question her character. It does, however, call into question her judgment.”

READ: NY Same-Sex Marriage: NOM’s $2 Million Fight Consists Of Postcards

I think in NOM’s case we can call into question both their character and their judgment, for initiating and repeating their lie about the size of their crowd.

But NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, “a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it,” really had to lie, one must suppose, to save face. As many journalists and bloggers are furious that Gallagher & Co. would dare to cook up such a lie, truth be told, in 2009, at their anti-gay marriage hate rally, (of course featuring New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz,) they had 20,000 people, according to reliable sources.

Now, also according to reliable sources, on Sunday NOM had 3,000 protesters show. Let’s be kind, and call it 4,000, just for the sake of it. In the age of the Internet, two years after their first NYC rally, NOM managed to get 20% — one fifth — of the original number of people to show up to protest same-sex marriage equality.

Wow.

10,000 isn’t only a lie, it’s the best they could do to save face. But even if NOM weren’t lying (they are) about the 10,000 people showing up in midtown, they still got only half of the number of people they got just two years ago!

Sunday, Maggie Gallagher told the Village Voice, “The goal is not to disrupt or protest an individual decision ceremony, it’s to protest what the government in Albany did without the vote of the people.” Well, if that’s the goal, they’ve failed miserably. And it proves that, with 58% of New Yorkers supporting same-sex marriage, New York voters neither want to protest against marriage equality, nor vote against it.

“Let the people vote,” Maggie? They just did.

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‘Lied Through His Teeth’: Senator Warns RFK Jr. Undermining Vaccine Will ‘Kill’ Kids

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18 hours ago

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May 16, 2025

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U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is accusing Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of lying during his Senate testimony this week, and warning that the HHS chief’s efforts to destroy faith in the measles vaccine will lead to children dying.

“It’s not a small thing that Trump’s Cabinet thinks Congress and the American people are so dumb that they can tell brazen lies over and over. We can’t normalize this,” Senator Murphy urged.

“The way in which Trump and Trump’s cabinet lie through their teeth, unapologetically and brazenly, to Congress and the American people, is outrageous,” Murphy said in video (below) he posted online Friday. “And I really worry that we risk normalizing it by not calling it out when it happens.”

He called the exchange he had with RFK Jr. “maddening” and “heartbreaking,” and said the HHS Secretary “essentially says that he’s no longer recommending that families get the measles vaccine. That’s going to kill hundreds, if not thousands of kids in this country.”

Murphy then played a clip from Kennedy’s testimony (which NCRM covered earlier this week), and, he said, caught Kennedy in a lie.

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“By the way,” Kennedy told Murphy, “I said at the [House] hearing this morning that I was recommending the measles vaccine,” and told him to “look at the transcript.”

“So guess what I did?” Murphy says. “I went and checked the House transcript. It’s hours of testimony. I and my staff watched all of it, and guess what? Nowhere, nowhere in that transcript does he say he recommends the measles vaccine.”

“He lied through his teeth, and he did it because all of these MAGA sycophants have gotten used to lying. Donald Trump does it all the time, so they think they can do it as well. But we can’t normalize this because you can’t run a country if your leaders are lying to you every single day,” the Connecticut Democrat warned.

“RFK Jr. doesn’t support the measles vaccine, and he shouldn’t pretend that he does. He undermines the vaccine on a daily basis and whether we like his conspiracy theory positions or not, he should just be honest with the American people. They should all be honest with the American people, and none of us should normalize or get used to this amount of lying.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘It Meant Assassination’: Trump Blasts ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey for ‘8647’

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‘It Meant Assassination’: Trump Blasts ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey for ‘8647’

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20 hours ago

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May 16, 2025

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President Donald Trump is attacking the FBI Director he fired, Jim Comey, who is reportedly under investigation  over a photo of sea shells formed into the numbers 8647. Top Trump law enforcement and intelligence officials claim it is a call for the assassination of the 47th President, although “86” is generally understood to mean “reject” or “eject,” and, since the 1930s, in restaurant parlance, has meant a menu item is unavailable.

“He knew exactly what that meant,” President Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that will air Friday evening. “A child knows what that meant.”

“If you’re the FBI Director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination.’ And it says it loud and clear,” Trump alleged.

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“Now, he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant, and he did it for a reason, and he was hit so hard because people like me, and they like what’s happening with our country. Our country’s become respected again,” the President claimed. “And he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”

Baier interjected, saying: “Obviously, he apologized and said he —”

“Well, he apologized because he was hit,” Trump also claimed. “Look, he’s a very bad —”

When asked what he wants to see happen to the former Director of the FBI, Trump said he did not want to weigh in, and would let his Attorney General handle it.

“I don’t want to take a position on it because that’s gonna be up to Pam [Bondi] and all of the great people, but I will say this. I think it’s a terrible thing. And when you add his history to that, if he had a clean history, he doesn’t.”

“He’s a dirty cop. He’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency. But I’m going to let them make that decision.”

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Trump Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News on Thursday night she thinks Comey should go to prison for posting the “8647” photo.

Asked, “Do you believe Comey should be in jail?” Gabbard replied, “I do.”

“Any other person with the position of influence that he has,” she added, “people who take very seriously what what a guy of his stature, his experience, and what the propaganda media has built him up to be?”

“I’m very concerned for the president’s life. We’ve already seen assassination attempts,” she continued. “I’m very concerned for his life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”

But others commenting via social media were quick to point to a number of “86” posts apparently made by right wing influencers and even a former member of Congress, as well as T-shirts for sale during the Biden years.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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‘Mad King’: Trump Teases ‘Fourth’ Term to U.S. Troops Overseas

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2 days ago

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May 15, 2025

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During a rally-style appearance before uniformed U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday, President Donald Trump—serving as their Commander-in-Chief—floated the idea of a “fourth” term and falsely claimed victory in the 2020 election he lost. The appearance drew swift criticism for blurring the line between military service and political theater.

“As you know, we won three elections, okay?” Trump told the largely silent troops (video below). “And some people want us to do a fourth. I don’t know—I’ll have to think about that.”

“You saw the new, the new hat. The hottest hat is, it says, ‘Trump 2028: We’re driving the left crazy.'”

“When you see that. We didn’t need that hat, but, uh, it was it’s been an amazing period of time,” he concluded.

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Noting that Trump was speaking “at the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East,” CNN reported that the President “thanked the U.S. troops for political support.”

“There’s – nobody been stronger than the military in terms of backing us, nobody,” Trump said. “So, I just want to thank you all very much. Great honor. Thank you very much.”

CBS News national security coordinating producer Jim LaPorta, who has reported extensively on the military, wrote: “If this was a rally, the president’s remarks would be fine. But in front of service members who are expected to be apolitical, many Defense Department officials would find these remarks inappropriate.”

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The Bulwark’s Sam Stein observed: “Treating the troops like they’re at a campaign rally and sowing doubt about the past and future of American elections — all in one soundbite.”

Democratic pollster and strategist Luke Martin called it “especially jarring to see Trump flirting with blowing a hole in the Constitution in front of an entire crowd of people who literally swore an oath to protect it with their life.”

Independent journalist Mike Rothschild noted: “Making a statement like this in front of active duty troops would have generated months of scandal, hearings, and resignations in years gone by. Now it’s just another Thursday with the Mad King.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: GOP Plan Redefines Dependent Child as ‘Under 7’—But Adds Loophole for Married Couples

 

Image via Reuters

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