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The Rapture: This Week’s Religious Right Anti-Gay Hate Crimes

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Rapture-Causing Nazi-Like Gays Worthy Of Death

The Rapture is coming! The Rapture is coming! And the radical right — furiously working to get their last attacks on “the gays” in before they depart the Earth during Saturday’s promised Rapture — have been hard at work this week. Fresh from worship services, Reverend Rubén Díaz, who apparently works part-time as a New York State Senator when his anti-gay religious chores are done, was toiling away with his fellow Evangelical preachers at an anti-gay marriage rally in the Bronx this past Sunday, telling gays how evil they are. Díaz’s fellow preacher, the Right Reverend Ariel Torres Ortega of Radio Visión Cristiana stood on stage in front of a few thousand people, and in Spanish, with a fellow priest translating into English, said that gays should die.

READ: Kill The Gays NYC? Gays Should Die Says Pastor At NOM Marriage Rally

Specifically, Reverend Ortega said, gays “are worthy of death.” The translator did not pause or miss a beat, and neither did Reverend Díaz — who spoke just minutes later — nor did Díaz, the elected representative of hundreds of thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender constituents, bother to walk back or disavow that hate speech. It gives one pause to ask, if it’s illegal to yell, “Fire!” in a crowded theater, why isn’t it illegal to yell, “Kill the gays!” in front of a few thousand religious bigots?

While we’re pausing and musing, something Reverend Díaz, who does not believe in the separation of church and state when it comes to same-sex marriage, is allergic to, let’s think for a moment about what kind of person has not only the desire, but the time, to go to a rally in the Bronx and hang out in the rain, with other people whose sole focus that day is to make sure that two people who love each other are banned from walking into city hall, signing a few pieces of paper, and entering into a civil marriage? I mean, seriously, don’t these people have something better to do with their time?

Sunday’s Bronx anti-gay marriage hate rally, of course promoted and sponsored by Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage (NOM) — which has yet to respond to a petition demanding they denounce the “kill the gays” rhetoric — was headlined also by Brian Brown, NOM’s president. Thursday, saying his hate rally had a “festive atmosphere,” Brown said “the warm response of the people in the Bronx made it seem like, well, a ticker-tape parade, if the Bronx had ticker-tape parades.” No doubt ticker-tape parade heroes everyone are nauseous right now.

Characterizing his hate rally as “the march for dignity” — because until every last gay person, evidently, is forever banned from marrying, no opposite-sex marriage can ever regain its dignity — Brown said, “we march in love to protect marriage as the union of husband and wife.” Nothing like a little “kill the gays” hate speech to strengthen and protect the loving marriages of husbands and wives everywhere, right, Brian?

 


“I mean, ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis,” Fischer cried. “Homosexual activists, when it comes to freedom of speech, are Nazis. When it comes to freedom of religion, they are Nazis.”

 


 

Speaking of hate speech, Bryan Fischer, the public face and voice of the certified hate group, the American Family Association (AFA), decided to educate his readers about hate crimes today.

Offering this definition from USLegal.com, that a “hate crime is usually defined by state law as one that involves threats, harassment, or physical harm and is motivated by prejudice against someone’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability,” Fischer responds, “If hate crimes involve threats or harassment motivated by prejudice against someone’s religion, homosexual activists are the worst perpetrators of hate crimes in America.”

Because, you see, Fischer blames LGBT groups and individuals for Olympic official Peter Vidmar’s decision to resign from the U.S. Olympic committee because of his anti-gay comments on same-sex marriage and his $2000 donation to the Yes on 8 campaign that brought us Prop 8, the ban on same-sex marriage in California.

“Vidmar makes his living as a motivational speaker, and has now been tagged by the Grand Inquisitors of the left as a homophobic bigot,” Fischer writes. “Good luck getting speaking gigs with that on your resume.” Does anyone care to point out that Fischer makes a fine living as a “homophobic bigot?”

You know who else makes a fine living as a homophobic bigot? Peter LaBarbera. LaBarbera’s claim to fame is that he founded a lie and hate-spreading organization (an organization of one, but still…) called Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH). LaBarbera Thursday night via Twitter accused the media of being unable to deliver facts objectively because their livelihood is dependent upon drumming up controversy. I’ll leave you to put those pieces together to find the blatant hypocrisy.

READ: Rapture: Gays Are Responsible For Saturday Being Judgement Day

Speaking of blatant hypocrisy, note that neither Bryan Fischer, nor Maggie Gallagher, nor Brian Brown, nor anyone else on the Right, has denounced the Right Reverend Ariel Torres Ortega’s hate crime (it’s a hate crime, right, Bryan?) of saying gays should die. We’re waiting, and, given you folks will be Raptured in about 24 hours, there’s not much time left.

But wait. Of course, there’s more!

You see, hate crimes are only a one-way street. If you accuse someone of a hate crime, in Fischer’s mind at least, you’re absolved of any guilt of committing one yourself.

Case in point.

This week on his talk radio program “Focal Point,” Fischer accused gays of being Nazis. I kid you not.

The 60 year-​old conservative claimed “the homosexual agenda is just like Islam,” then said of gays — repeatedly — “they are Nazis.”

“I mean, ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis,” Fischer cried. “Homosexual activists, when it comes to freedom of speech, are Nazis. When it comes to freedom of religion, they are Nazis.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis,” Fischer, whose show on American Family Radio is broadcast by more than 180 radio stations in 40 states, repeated. “Do not be under any illusions about what homosexual activists will do with your freedoms and your religion if they have the opportunity. They’ll do the same thing to you that the Nazis did to their opponents in Nazi Germany.”

Let’s do that pausing and musing thing, an act that those of the radical religious right are allergic to committing. Let’s pause to solemnly remember that the Nazis killed an estimated six million Jews, and some put the total number of human beings murdered by Nazis at 11 to 17 million. We know that the Nazis targeted Jews and homosexuals specifically. How many millions of those were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender?

But Fischer’s hate crimes and NOM’s anti-gay hate rally were not the only evidence of right wing gay-bashing this week. Despite three polls released this week showing that the majority of Americans accept their gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender neighbors, and want them be be given the right to marry — merchants of hate were selling their wares by the truckload.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who has become infamous for using every tactic in the GOP’s book for stripping union workers of their rights, effectively stripped the rights of every same-sex couple to visit their loved one in a hospital. That’s right, Walker, an Evangelical Christian who has been married for 18 years and has two children, believes he has the obligation to prevent same-sex couples from holding the hand of their spouse — legal or not — as they lie in a hospital bed, perhaps going in and out of consciousness, perhaps leaving this Earth. Walker would rather see gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people die alone. How very Christian…

But none of this will matter much longer, you see, because when the Rapture comes on Saturday, all the good Christians, like Bryan Fischer, Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, the Right Reverend (and part-time Senator) Rubén Díaz, the Right Reverend Ariel Torres Ortega and, especially Harold Camping, the man who has predicted the Rapture will come Saturday, will of course be gone.

Sadly, however, my dear gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender friends, you should know the Rapture that is coming on Saturday is your fault. Yes, Harold Camping, the octogenarian who believes so devoutly that Judgment Day is upon us, that the end of the world is nigh, blames the gays for these end times.

The prevalence of homosexuality, and the rapid acceptance of homosexuality is “a tremendous sign that we’re at the threshold of Judgement Day,” says Camping.

We now have six major nationwide polls that state without a doubt that the majority of Americans support same-sex marriage equality, we have polls that find a majority of Americans believe homosexuality should be accepted, we have polls that find a majority of Americans want the practice of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell finally repealed (it has not yet been, despite a law signed by the president that paves the way for it to be,) we have polls that find that a great majority of U.S. Catholics support same-sex civil marriage, and we have polls that find a majority of Americans want DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act — already found by a federal judge, not to mention the President and the Attorney General to be unconstitutional — repealed.

Given all these facts, well, perhaps Camping is right: there is now a rapid acceptance of homosexuality. So if he says the Rapture is coming, who am I to disagree?

But allow me to quote Scripture as well.

Matthew 5:5 — Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Earth.

 

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Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation

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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.

Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”

“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”

In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”

He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”

“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”

“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”

“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”

The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.

“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”

Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”

Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.

Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.

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Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs

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President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.

“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”

The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”

Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”

TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”

Critics blasted Trump.

“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.

One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”

Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”

The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”

 

Image via Reuters 

 

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One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won

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President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.

According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.

Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”

“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”

Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”

Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.

Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.

The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.

“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.

The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.

“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”

 

Image via Reuters

 

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