Connect with us

Please, For The Love Of God, CNN, Show Soledad O’Brien The Polling On Gay Marriage

Published

on

On CNN this morning, Soledad O’Brien hosted a roundtable discussion with actor and conservative activist Stephen Baldwin, LGBT civil rights activist (and icon) Richard Socarides, and a few others. As you can see in this clip, starting around the 1:35 mark, O’Brien not only looks perplexed, but is totally ignorant of the fact that for two years now, in almost every major poll, the majority of Americans have stated they support same-sex marriage. These aren’t outliers, this is a fact.

(In case you aren’t comfortable with this statement, see what the New York Times’ Nate Silver wrote in May of last year.)

How is it a top CNN anchor is totally unaware of this?

While you’re watching the video, you can thank me for not making the title of this post, “Stephen Baldwin: Family Research Council Employees Are “Heavily Armed,” as I had debated, but opted to not add to the violent rhetoric.

Or, “Baldwin suggests Obama is a pimp and broke the law when he worked with interested parties to pass Obamacare.”

Please, CNN, time to boot know-nothing actors like Stephen Baldwin, who has little knowledge of the topics you’re discussing, and, frankly, insufficient intelligence to add to the discussion, and time to get you anchors access to information.

Perhaps there needs to be a knowledge test at CNN?

The panel started to discuss the Brian Brown interview, in which Brown totally politicized the FRC shooting, and without sufficient facts, stooping to the lowest level possible, of course.

 

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2012/08/16/exp-point-stephen-baldwin-politics.cnn

Transcript via CNN:

O’BRIEN: We are going to start with a serious topic which is that shooting that took place in D.C. at FRC. Earlier we had Brian Brown on, and he was — he said this. Let me just play a little bit of his interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Everything points to the fact that this was politically motivated. And it’s totally unacceptable. And groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which have labeled the family research council, which is a mainstream group, a hate group, that sort of talk, that sort of labeling and attack, it’s totally irresponsible and unacceptable. And I think this incident makes that clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O’BRIEN: He is the president of the National Organization for Marriage. And it seems we are now learning about the security guard who was injured in the attack. But he seems to have stopped it and really probably saved a lot of lives because this guy was heavily armed. What do you make of what he’s saying, which is there is an irresponsibility in the labeling that goes around the FRC.

BALDWIN: Well, I think that — I know exactly what FRC is. I know the founder of it. And anybody that tries to go in there with a weapon was probably pretty stupid, because those people are —

RICHARD SOCARIDES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Heavily armed?

BALDWIN: Yes, they are heavily armed people. Huh. Exactly. I think it gets back to common sense, regular Joe philosophy. I think that there is a right and a left. And a very conservative perspective about what the future of the country is. And there’s a progressive movement that wants what it wants. And we are now seeing all of these types of differences coming to extreme heads and confrontations.

O’BRIEN: It sounds like you’re saying that the hostility and the tenor and the tone is only going to ratchet-up, right?

BALDWIN: Absolutely.

O’BRIEN: You’re saying harsher this way, harsher that way, and that bubbles into much of a clash and angry rhetoric and worse than angry rhetoric.

BALDWIN: Yes. I mean, obviously we’re seeing more and more violence. Where is that coming from? SOCARIDES: Do you think, though, that maybe we’re seeing more violence on the extremes, but that in the middle, I think the country is coming together around some core principles. We are all in this together. We are all about the same values.

BALDWIN: We should be.

SOCARIDES: We should be, right?

CAIN: What are you saying?

SOCARIDES: I think that there is a consensus around issues like gay rights. The family research council is a big advocate against gay consensus for basic fairness for all.

BALDWIN: Well, there’s a shift.

SOCARIDES: There is a shift.

BALDWIN: In the perception, yes. But at the same time, you have organizations like family research council that say, ok, what about traditional? What about the foundations of what has been the origins and the establishment of this country? It doesn’t mean don’t try to do the right thing. But I believe, you know, listen, Kirk Cameron said something, you know, with Piers Morgan and got in a lot of trouble. And I said during that time, Kirk, it’s not what you say. It’s how you say it. But I supported kirk Cameron for being able to say and stand up for what he believes in.

O’BRIEN: By the way, you have called Vice President Biden a potty mouth. You called the president a gangster. Do you think that the words that people are throwing back and forth are, you know, and I played just a bunch of clips of everybody saying just hostile, nasty things. And I know every couple of years, we say this is the worst ever. Oh, my god, the rhetoric is so bad. But at some point don’t you think it’s ratcheting up?

BALDWIN: Well, Soledad, I call them like I see them. No. Listen, there was a political move by this president to get health care passed that in my perception was criminal, meaning on a common sense level. You don’t go do a deal behind everybody’s back and work the system and, you know, pimp it out so to speak, in order to get your way.

O’BRIEN: So I’m going to guarantee you that the fact you have used the words “pimp it out” is going to —

BALDWIN: Get me in a lot of trouble!

O’BRIEN: Yes, sir.

BALDWIN: I call them like I see them, Soledad.

O’BRIEN: So you are, though, comparing the president to a pimp in those words. Is that what you’re saying?

BALDWIN: No, no. I’m using an — O’BRIEN: No, I’m asking. No, no, I’m literally — that’s what I’m saying. You’re going to get in trouble. That’s the connection people will make, as you know.

BALDWIN: I’m trying to clarify it simply by saying he did something and made a move that most people on a common sense level would say, was that really the right way to get that done? But this president obviously is going to do what he thinks he needs to do to achieve his goals and achieve his agenda.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Assassination of Political Rivals as an Official Act’: AOC Warns Take Trump ‘Seriously’

Published

7 hours ago

on

April 25, 2024

By

Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is responding to Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Donald Trump’s claim he has “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution because he was a U.S. president, and she delivered a strong warning in response.

Trump’s attorney argued before the nation’s highest court that the ex-president could have ordered the assassination of a political rival and not face criminal prosecution unless he was first impeached by the House of Representatives and then convicted by the Senate.

But even then, Trump attorney John Sauer argued, if assassinating his political rival were done as an “official act,” he would be automatically immune from all prosecution.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, presenting the hypothetical, expressed, “there are some things that are so fundamentally evil that they have to be protected against.”

RELATED: Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’

“If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person, and he orders the military, or orders someone to assassinate him, is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?” she asked.

“It would depend on the hypothetical, but we can see that could well be an official act,” Trump attorney Sauer quickly replied.

Sauer later claimed that if a president ordered the U.S. military to wage a coup, he could also be immune from prosecution, again, if it were an “official act.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor and an expert on Russia, nuclear weapons, and national security affairs, was quick to poke a large hole in that hypothetical.

“If the president suspends the Senate, you can’t prosecute him because it’s not an official act until the Senate impeaches …. Uh oh,” he declared.

RELATED: Justices Slam Trump Lawyer: ‘Why Is It the President Would Not Be Required to Follow the Law?’

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted the Trump team.

“The assassination of political rivals as an official act,” the New York Democrat wrote.

“Understand what the Trump team is arguing for here. Take it seriously and at face value,” she said, issuing a warning: “This is not a game.”

Marc Elias, who has been an attorney to top Democrats and the Democratic National Committee, remarked, “I am in shock that a lawyer stood in the U.S Supreme Court and said that a president could assassinate his political opponent and it would be immune as ‘an official act.’ I am in despair that several Justices seemed to think this answer made perfect sense.”

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen, a former U.S. Ambassador and White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform under President Barack Obama, boiled it down: “Trump is seeking dictatorial powers.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘They Will Have Thugs?’: Lara Trump’s Claim RNC Will ‘Physically Handle the Ballots’ Stuns

 

Continue Reading

News

Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’

Published

10 hours ago

on

April 25, 2024

By

Legal experts appeared somewhat pleased during the first half of the Supreme Court’s historic hearing on Donald Trump’s claim he has “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution because he was the President of the United States, as the justice appeared unwilling to accept that claim, but were stunned later when the right-wing justices questioned the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s attorney. Many experts are suggesting the ex-president may have won at least a part of the day, and some are expressing concern about the future of American democracy.

“Former President Trump seems likely to win at least a partial victory from the Supreme Court in his effort to avoid prosecution for his role in Jan. 6,” Axios reports. “A definitive ruling against Trump — a clear rejection of his theory of immunity that would allow his Jan. 6 trial to promptly resume — seemed to be the least likely outcome.”

The most likely outcome “might be for the high court to punt, perhaps kicking the case back to lower courts for more nuanced hearings. That would still be a victory for Trump, who has sought first and foremost to delay a trial in the Jan. 6 case until after Inauguration Day in 2025.”

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, who covers the courts and the law, noted: “This did NOT go very well [for Special Counsel] Jack Smith’s team. Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh think Trump’s Jan. 6 prosecution is unconstitutional. Maybe Gorsuch too. Roberts is skeptical of the charges. Barrett is more amenable to Smith but still wants some immunity.”

READ MORE: ‘To Do God Knows What’: Local Elections Official Reads Lara Trump the Riot Act

Civil rights attorney and Tufts University professor Matthew Segal, responding to Stern’s remarks, commented: “If this is true, and if Trump becomes president again, there is likely no limit to the harm he’d be willing to cause — to the country, and to specific individuals — under the aegis of this immunity.”

Noted foreign policy, national security and political affairs analyst and commentator David Rothkopf observed: “Feels like the court is leaning toward creating new immunity protections for a president. It’s amazing. We’re watching the Constitution be rewritten in front of our eyes in real time.”

“Frog in boiling water alert,” warned Ian Bassin, a former Associate White House Counsel under President Barack Obama. “Who could have imagined 8 years ago that in the Trump era the Supreme Court would be considering whether a president should be above the law for assassinating opponents or ordering a military coup and that *at least* four justices might agree.”

NYU professor of law Melissa Murray responded to Bassin: “We are normalizing authoritarianism.”

Trump’s attorney, John Sauer, argued before the Supreme Court justices that if Trump had a political rival assassinated, he could only be prosecuted if he had first been impeach by the U.S. House of Representatives then convicted by the U.S. Senate.

During oral arguments Thursday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes commented on social media, “Something that drives me a little insane, I’ll admit, is that Trump’s OWN LAWYERS at his impeachment told the Senators to vote not to convict him BECAUSE he could be prosecuted if it came to that. Now they’re arguing that the only way he could be prosecuted is if they convicted.”

READ MORE: Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

Attorney and former FBI agent Asha Rangappa warned, “It’s worth highlighting that Trump’s lawyers are setting up another argument for a second Trump presidency: Criminal laws don’t apply to the President unless they specifically say so…this lays the groundwork for saying (in the future) he can’t be impeached for conduct he can’t be prosecuted for.”

But NYU and Harvard professor of law Ryan Goodman shared a different perspective.

“Due to Trump attorney’s concessions in Supreme Court oral argument, there’s now a very clear path for DOJ’s case to go forward. It’d be a travesty for Justices to delay matters further. Justice Amy Coney Barrett got Trump attorney to concede core allegations are private acts.”

NYU professor of history Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert scholar on authoritarians, fascism, and democracy concluded, “Folks, whatever the Court does, having this case heard and the idea of having immunity for a military coup taken seriously by being debated is a big victory in the information war that MAGA and allies wage alongside legal battles. Authoritarians specialize in normalizing extreme ideas and and involves giving them a respected platform.”

The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal offered up a prediction: “Court doesn’t come back till May 9th which will be a decision day. But I think they won’t decide *this* case until July 3rd for max delay. And that decision will be 5-4 to remand the case back to DC, for additional delay.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

Continue Reading

News

Justices Slam Trump Lawyer: ‘Why Is It the President Would Not Be Required to Follow the Law?’

Published

13 hours ago

on

April 25, 2024

By

Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court hearing Donald Trump’s claim of absolute immunity early on appeared at best skeptical, were able to get his attorney to admit personal criminal acts can be prosecuted, appeared to skewer his argument a president must be impeached and convicted before he can be criminally prosecuted, and peppered him with questions exposing what some experts see is the apparent weakness of his case.

Legal experts appeared to believe, based on the Justices’ questions and statements, Trump will lose his claim of absolute presidential immunity, and may remand the case back to the lower court that already ruled against him, but these observations came during Justices’ questioning of Trump attorney John Sauer, and before they questioned the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Michael Dreeben.

“I can say with reasonable confidence that if you’re arguing a case in the Supreme Court of the United States and Justices Alito and Sotomayor are tag-teaming you, you are going to lose,” noted attorney George Conway, who has argued a case before the nation’s highest court and obtained a unanimous decision.

But some are also warning that the justices will delay so Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump will not take place before the November election.

READ MORE: ‘To Do God Knows What’: Local Elections Official Reads Lara Trump the Riot Act

“This argument still has a ways to go,” observed UCLA professor of law Rick Hasen, one of the top election law scholars in the county. “But it is easy to see the Court (1) siding against Trump on the merits but (2) in a way that requires further proceedings that easily push this case past the election (to a point where Trump could end this prosecution if elected).”

The Economist’s Supreme Court reporter Steven Mazie appeared to agree: “So, big picture: the (already slim) chances of Jack Smith actually getting his 2020 election-subversion case in front of a jury before the 2024 election are dwindling before our eyes.”

One of the most stunning lines of questioning came from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who said, “If someone with those kinds of powers, the most powerful person in the world with the greatest amount of authority, could go into Office knowing that there would be no potential penalty for committing crimes. I’m trying to understand what the disincentive is, from turning the Oval Office into, you know, the seat of criminal activity in this country.”

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

She also warned, “If the potential for criminal liability is taken off the table, wouldn’t there be a significant risk that future presidents would be emboldened to commit crimes with abandon while they’re in office? It’s right now the fact that we’re having this debate because, OLC [Office of Legal Counsel] has said that presidents might be prosecuted. Presidents, from the beginning of time have understood that that’s a possibility. That might be what has kept this office from turning into the kind of crime center that I’m envisioning, but once we say, ‘no criminal liability, Mr. President, you can do whatever you want,’ I’m worried that we would have a worse problem than the problem of the president feeling constrained to follow the law while he’s in office.”

“Why is it as a matter of theory,” Justice Jackson said, “and I’m hoping you can sort of zoom way out here, that the president would not be required to follow the law when he is performing his official acts?”

“So,” she added later, “I guess I don’t understand why Congress in every criminal statute would have to say and the President is included. I thought that was the sort of background understanding that if they’re enacting a generally applicable criminal statute, it applies to the President just like everyone else.”

Another critical moment came when Justice Elena Kagan asked, “If a president sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary, is that immune?”

Professor of law Jennifer Taub observed, “This is truly a remarkable moment. A former U.S. president is at his criminal trial in New York, while at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing his lawyer’s argument that he should be immune from prosecution in an entirely different federal criminal case.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.