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Refudiating “Does Sarah Palin Support Gay Rights?”

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There’s a dangerous meme making its way across the Internets: “Does Sarah Palin support gay rights?” thanks to her almost-Libertarian response to gay GOP group GOProud’s attendance at this weekend’s CPAC. The Alaska Dispatch, writing at Huffington Post, reports Palin “told the Christian Broadcasting Network that it was a ‘scheduling conflict’ that prevented her appearance, not GOProud’s presence at the convention. And she went one step further, telling CBN that conference attendees should not so quickly dismiss the opportunity to provide a full spectrum of conservatism. News website POLITICO reports Palin alluded to the controversy that GOProud’s inclusion at the conference had caused for conservatives.”

“‘Should the GOP, should conservatives not reach out to others, not participate in events and forums that… maybe we don’t personally agree with? And I say no… I look at participation in an event like CPAC or any other event in that same vein as the more information that people have the better,’ Palin told CBN.”

But then they write, “Palin has mostly left her support or opposition to gay rights ‘open to interpretation.’ Last month, Palin re-tweeted a gay conservative’s post that was critical of the GOP’s ardent opposition to the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ calling it ‘hypocrisy.'”

And so let’s stop right here and “refudiate” yet another example of journalistic malpractice.

It’s called “Google,” people, and you can use it to do something many journalists evidently have forgotten is in their job description: research.

(Or, you can just spend all your time here at The New Civil Rights Movement, where we do the research so you don’t have to.)

After the whole Palin retweet of Tammy Bruce’s DADT comment fiasco, I did a fair amount of research and wrote, “So, Where DOES Sarah Palin Stand On Gay Rights?” Here are a few highlights:

So, here you go. Sarah Palin’s positions on gay rights:

Sarah Palin is against same-sex marriage:

  • Palin has said, “I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between and man and a woman.” (Campaign website, www.palinforgovernor.com, “Issues” Nov 7, 2006)
  • “Ms. Palin said she supported Alaska’s decision to amend its Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. But she used her first veto as governor to block a bill that would have prohibited the state from granting health benefits to same-sex partners of public employees.” (New York Times)
  • “Here’s what Sarah Palin has to say about same-sex marriage. Palin said she’s not out to judge anyone and has good friends who are gay, but that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment.” “Elected officials can’t defy the court when it comes to how rights are applied, she said, but she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to homosexual couples. “I believe that honoring the family structure is that important,” Palin said. She said she doesn’t know if people choose to be gay.” (Anchorage Daily News, viaOnTheIssues)

Sarah Palin is against spousal benefits for same-sex couples:

Q: Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples?

A: No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.

Q: In relationship to families, what are your top three priorities if elected governor?

A: 1. Creating an atmosphere where parents feel welcome to choose the venues of education for their children.
2. Preserving the definition of “marriage” as defined in our constitution.
3. Cracking down on the things that harm family life: gangs, drug use, and infringement of our liberties including attacks on our 2nd Amendment rights. (Eagle Forum 2006 Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire Jul 31, 2006)

Sarah Palin is on the record against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal:

For the record, Palin came out last year against repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” although she suggested her first concern about repeal was the timing — “I don’t think so right now… And I say that because there are other things to be worried about right now with the military. I think that kind of on the back burner, is sufficient for now.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Palin is not on the record as for or against ENDA, but given all her other positions, I would bet she’s against that, too.

Bottom line, Sarah Palin is not the blank slate the media assumes. She’s made her positions very clear. She is anti-gay, and is on the record as being so.

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News

‘Objectively Amazing’: Economists Cheer ‘Extraordinarily Robust’ and ‘Close to Unprecedented’ Jobs Report

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Economists are once again cheering the just-released jobs report, calling the results “objectively amazing,” saying the Federal Reserve has nothing to worry about on the jobs front, and slamming “doom and gloom” naysayers who have been talking about recession for well over a year.

The unemployment rate ticked up just a bit to 3.7%, slightly above an expected 3.5%, but, as NBC News reports, “still near the lowest since 1969.”

Average hourly earnings increased to rate of 4.3% on the year.

“Holy moly, jobs growth comes in hot again,” cheered University of Michigan professor of economics Justin Wolfers, who is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Don’t believe the doom-and-gloom talk. This economy is motoring along.”

“It’s hard to emphasize just how much the current rate of job growth is best described as ‘EXTRAORDINARILY ROBUST’,” Wolfers exclaimed. “Job growth at this rate, this far into a recovery, with unemployment this low, is pretty close to unprecedented.”

READ MORE: Former DOJ Official Says Audio of Trump Admitting to Keeping ‘War Plans’ Makes it ‘Inconceivable’ He Will Not Be Charged

Political strategist Simon Rosenberg served up a chart comparing the job growth efforts of presidents from George H. W. Bush to Joe Biden. He says, the data are “very clear about this.” The “GOP has been an economic wrecking ball.”

Rosenberg also says 96% of jobs created since 1989 have been under Democratic presidents.

Meanwhile, Professor Wolfers slammed those who keep talking about a recession, which the U.S. is not in.

“My advice: Take the names of those who told you that we’re in a recession. In the future, weight their views accordingly.”

Pointing to a Washington Post tweet with a headline that reads, “Labor Market is showing no signs of a recession for now,” Democratic strategist Greg Pinelo wrote: “Economists keep being surprised by strong jobs reports. Maybe you’re doing it wrong. The Republican dream of a recession is being dashed on the rocks of Biden’s successes.”

READ MORE: Grassley Admits He Doesn’t Care if GOP’s Accusations Against ‘Vice President Biden’ Are True or Not – He Vows to Pursue Them

Indeed, that Washington Post report claims, “Many economists are predicting a recession later this year, especially if the Federal Reserve keeps hiking interest rates to curb inflation.”

Some say talk of recession, which Americans have been hearing since 2019, could be a self-fulling prophesy.

Nearly one year ago Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “I wish some of my colleagues would be more about promoting growth policies rather than simply criticizing the administration…I don’t hear them criticizing [Trump’s] economic policies…If you have people banging the drum ‘recession, recession, recession,’ it becomes in many ways a self-fulfilling prophecy, and maybe that’s good for short-term politics for some in this country, but it’s not good for the economic well being of Virginians and Americans.”

One year ago in June, economist David Rothschild wrote, “Get that Republican & Mainstream Media elites think this is all a game: get people to think economy sucks and we can elect more Republicans to give tax & regulation cuts to rich, slash necessary social safety net for working families! Cool! But, recession can be self-fulfilling.”

Journalist Ahmed Baba back in January documented what he sees as the self-fulfilling prophesy of a recession cycle:

Rothschild Friday morning praised the economy: “If economists were told in 2019 that world would be hit by devastating pandemic then Russia would invade Ukraine, their wildest optimistic forecasts would not have come close to how well economy (jobs, wages, market, despite inflation) has done over last 2.5 years.”

And calling the economy “objectively amazing,” Rothschild, like Rosenberg, also offered up a chart comparing the job growth efforts of presidents from George H. W. Bush to Joe Biden.

Biden is winning:

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News

Fox News Is Helping Trump Concoct An ‘Entirely Different World’: Conservative

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Conservative New York Times columnist David French on Friday asked his more liberal readers to tune into Fox News so they can see how millions of their fellow Americans remember the Trump presidency.

Despite the fact that former President Donald Trump lost the popular vote by more than 7 million votes in 2020, French writes that Trump and Fox News are concocting an “entirely different world” in which the Trump era was an unquestioned Golden Age.

“According to Trump’s narrative, everything he did was good,” writes French. “His first term was a time of economic prosperity, energy independence, fiscal responsibility, a rejuvenated military, a locked-down border and fear and respect from foreign regimes. The only thing that marred his four years was a stolen election and his unjust persecution by the corrupt Democratic Party and its allies in the F.B.I.”

French makes clear that this is not how he sees Trump’s first term, which he argues was marred by “division, corruption and social decay.”

IN OTHER NEWS: ‘Extremism sells’: Georgia Republicans lament Trump has turned GOP into party of ‘performance artists’

However, none of this seems to have penetrated through to Trump’s base, which appears to love him more than ever if the Fox News town hall is any indication.

“The two most telling moments on Thursday came from Trump’s audience,” he argues. “First, they booed Mike Pence at the very mention of his name. Second, they shouted derisively at Hannity at the mere thought that Trump should perhaps tone down his rhetoric. Both moments emphasized the ferocity of their support for Trump.”

 

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CRIME

Former DOJ Official Says Audio of Trump Admitting to Keeping ‘War Plans’ Makes it ‘Inconceivable’ He Will Not Be Charged

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A former top U.S. Dept. of Justice official says it is “inconceivable” that Donald Trump will not be charged, based on reports Special Counsel Jack Smith has an audio recording of the ex-president admitting he was in possession of a classified Pentagon document detailing a possible attack on Iran.

“I think if this audio tape exists, this is not a question of if there are going to be charges. It’s just a question of when,” announced NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann, the well-known former FBI General Counsel who worked at DOJ for two decades.

Importantly, Weissmann, who made his remarks on MSNBC Thursday, notes that the document in question, if it is as described, contains “war plans.”

“And the proof that we have learned just publicly is so strong. And Jack Smith is such a competent and aggressive prosecutor. It is inconceivable to me that this would not be charged, and having a tape recording of the prospective defendant admitting his possession of a classified document that he had no right to have,” Weissmann says.

RELATED: ‘Absolutely Blockbuster Evidence’: Experts Stunned Over Trump ‘Espionage Act’ Bombshell That Pressures ‘DOJ to Indict’

“And not just any classified document. I think it’s really important to remember that what he talks about reportedly, is a classified document involving something that is unbelievably sensitive, which is war plans of the United States against another country.”

Where news broke Wednesday NYU Law professor of law Ryan Goodman, a former U.S. Dept. of Defense Special Counsel, wrote: “War plans are among the most highly classified documents. Puts pressure on DOJ to indict, and a jury to convict.”

Some say, based on the audio, Trump might have been holding the document as he was being recorded at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf resort, allegedly discussing it.

“Make no mistake. This is squarely an Espionage Act case,” Goodman also said, calling the news a “bombshell.”

Explaining the gravity of the document, Weissmann notes, “this is not just taking love letters of Kim Jong Un or salacious material about the president in France. This is exactly what the Department of Justice and the intelligence community is worried about.”

Continuing to explain just how serious this is, Weissmann served up the ground rules.

“Let’s remember government documents, whether classified or not, belong to the government. They are not to be retained by a private citizen. And the former president is a private citizen. So for instance, when I was in the Department of Justice, the number of documents I could take when I left the Department of Justice would be zero. So you’re not supposed to have that possession of government documents. If they are classified, there can be an additional type of charge, but it’s not required that that material be classified or classified at a particular level.”

READ MORE: Grassley Admits He Doesn’t Care if GOP’s Accusations Against ‘Vice President Biden’ Are True or Not – He Vows to Pursue Them

“What you’re looking at here is whether the person either knowingly took the documents or knowingly retained the documents. Important this tape recording, if it exists, as recorded, is that you’ve got Donald Trump admitting that he has in his possession a classified document – doesn’t matter if it’s Secret, Top Secret, it’s classified, that itself is a crime.”

And then finally, with respect to dissemination, the recording is that there does appear to be at least some dissemination of the information because Donald Trump, although he doesn’t turn the document over or quote from it, he does talk about what is in there. In other words, the reason we’re all talking about the fact that involves war plans involving Iran is because reportedly that is what Donald Trump said was in the document. If that proves out, that is a form of dissemination.”

On social media later Thursday, Weissman tweeted, “Days, not months…” suggesting he believes an indictment of Trump would be coming sooner rather than later.

Watch Weissmann below or at this link.

 

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