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US Official’s Comments Suggest Death Penalty Not Removed From Uganda Kill The Gays Bill

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Comments made by an unnamed U.S. official suggest the death penalty may not have been removed from Uganda‘s “Kill The Gays“ bill. The Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson is reporting that a source at the U.S. State Department in Kampala says Uganda’s Kill The Gays bill has not yet been voted out of committee, contrary to reports from Ugandan politicians and new outlets. Johnson also notes that an unnamed “embassy source” states that the Ugandan parliament committee does not have the power to change the bill, only to make recommendations on the bill.

Putting these items together could lead one to assume that the death penalty has not been removed from the Kill The Gays bill, as The New Civil Rights Movement and a few others have maintained.

However, it’s important to note that the State Department has not stated the death penalty has not been removed, nor did the Blade.

The Blade reports:

U.S. officials offered a different account about the status of a draconian anti-gay bill in Uganda on Tuesday, saying the legislation had yet to move out of committee and disputing earlier media reports and State Department comments by saying the panel is incapable of removing the infamous death penalty provision from the legislation.

[Bolding ours.]

“In an email to the Washington Blade on Tuesday, an informed source at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala said the bill is still in committee,” Johnson adds. “That contradicts media reports on the bill — which imposes a penalty of life in prison for homosexual acts — that indicated the Legal & Parliamentary Affairs Committee had reported out the bill last week.”

Additionally, the embassy source, who asked not to be named, said that the committee can only compile a report on the bill for recommendations to the bill, and can’t make changes to it, such as removing the death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality,” which media sources reported has been removed. An earlier version of the bill defined “aggravated homosexuality” as someone with HIV engaging in homosexual acts, having homosexual sex with a minor or the repeated offense of homosexuality.

[Bolding ours.]

Johnson also reports that State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland “believes” Uganda President “Museveni ‘took onboard’ the potential negative impact of the bill during his talks with Carson.”

He quotes State Department spokesperson Nicole Thompson saying she “can pretty assuredly say that this is an issue of ongoing and continual dialogue between our government … and the government of Uganda.”

“The United States shares the concerns of several members of Uganda’s civil society and the Ugandan government’s own human rights commission, which determined the anti-homosexuality bill violates both Uganda’s constitution and its obligations under international law,” Thompson said. “Beyond that, we have serious concerns about the negative impact of the bill on public health interests in Uganda, including our concerns that it would undercut Uganda’s ability to fight HIV/AIDS infection and the spread of HIV/AIDS.”

Thompson added, “We just note that as President Obama said in reference to the same anti-homosexuality bill and his comments during the National Prayer Breakfast, it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are.”

 

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Biden Will Include DeSantis in His Visit to Support Florida Hurricane Victims

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October 4, 2022

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President Joe Biden will travel to Florida Wednesday to support families devastated by Hurricane Ian, and will include the state’s GOP governor, Ron DeSantis, in his trip, the White House announced Tuesday.

Last week, asked if he would meet with DeSantis, a top detractor of the president, Biden told a reporter who asked, “I’ll meet with everybody who’s around. The answer is yes, if he wants to meet.”

“This is not about anything having to do with our disagreements politically, this is about saving people’s lives, homes and businesses,” Biden also said last week.

DeSantis asked President Biden for financial assistance for his state, battered by what experts say is one of the worst hurricanes in U.S. history. DeSantis voted against relief aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy when he served in Congress.

President Biden and the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, will travel via Air Force One to Fort Myers, one of the hardest-hit areas of Florida by Hurricane Ian.

READ MORE: Watch: 2024 Presidential Hopeful Ron DeSantis Says ‘Cause for Concern Cause’ With Democrats Moving to Florida

But Fort Myers is also part of Lee County, where officials delayed evacuation orders.

“Lee County, which includes the hard-hit seaside community of Fort Myers Beach, as well as the towns of Fort Myers, Sanibel and Cape Coral, did not issue a mandatory evacuation order for the areas likely to be hardest hit until Tuesday morning, a day after several neighboring counties had ordered their most vulnerable residents to flee,” The New York Times reported. “By then, some residents recalled that they had little time to evacuate.”

“Lee County, which includes the hard-hit seaside community of Fort Myers Beach, as well as the towns of Fort Myers, Sanibel and Cape Coral, did not issue a mandatory evacuation order for the areas likely to be hardest hit until Tuesday morning, a day after several neighboring counties had ordered their most vulnerable residents to flee,” the Times added. “By then, some residents recalled that they had little time to evacuate.”

The St. Louis Post Dispatch blasted the Florida GOP governor, calling his “flip-flop on hurricane relief” a “study in right-wing hypocrisy.”

READ MORE: ‘Premeditated, Fraudulent, and Illegal’: Asylum Seekers Sue DeSantis After Being Sent to Martha’s Vineyard

“DeSantis’ willingness to shelve his usual attacks on the Biden administration to politely request emergency federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Ian is an inspiring example of constructive bipartisanship — as is Biden’s announcement that the government will bear a big part of the expense,” the Dispatch Editorial Board stated. “It’s interesting, though, that DeSantis took exactly the opposite stance a decade ago when he joined other hard-right members of Congress who argued against generous federal recovery aid when Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Northeast.”

Over the weekend DeSantis was blasted by volunteer relief aid workers who were delayed for hours in distributing “food, water, medicine, diapers, and anything else people needed” so Gov. DeSantis could get a photo-op.

 

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‘It’s a Lot More Nuanced, Peter, You Know This’: Karine Jean-Pierre Forced to Explain to Doocy the Price of Gas

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October 4, 2022

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Fox News propagandist Peter Doocy on Tuesday challenged White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the price of gas, suggesting President Joe Biden is responsible for its increase but not its decrease. Jean-Pierre explained what global issues affect the price of gas, while explaining the “historic” steps President Biden has taken.

“You’ve said the President was responsible for gas prices coming down. Is the president responsible for gas prices going up?” Doocy asked.

Jean-Pierre was not about to let that pass to give Fox News a talking point.

“So, it’s a lot more nuanced than that, right, Peter, you know this,” Jean-Pierre pushed back.

READ MORE: Watch: Fox News’ Peter Doocy Admits There Are Republicans ‘That Don’t Agree With Voting Rights’

“There have been global challenges that we have all have dealt with – when I say all, meaning other countries, as well, have dealt with since the pandemic. There’s been pandemic and there’s been Putin’s war. And Putin’s war has increased gas prices at the pump.”

“We have seen that over the past several months and what the President was able to do, he took some historic steps. When you think about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and making sure that he, we were able to do everything that we can to bring that cost down for American families, give them a little bit more of a breathing room and we saw that we saw that every day this summer, over saving American families, over $1 per gallon. And so that is what the President is going to continue to stay focused on the American consumers. How do we continue to keep to keep prices down? That’s why we we did the inflation Reduction Act that’s why we talk about the Chips Act. All of these things are going to help Americans here in this country.”

Doocy rattled off some of the highest gas prices in the nation, asking, “who can afford that?”

READ MORE: ‘I Was Waiting Peter’: Karine Jean-Pierre Calls Doocy’s Claim ‘Ridiculous’ as He Presses About ‘MAGA Republicans’

“We understand that,” Jean-Pierre replied, expressing empathy, “that’s why the President worked so hard the past several months, to make sure that he did everything we can to bring gas prices down. We have seen fastest – I know you’re pulling out a couple of areas across the country and I get that, and we understand that there’s more work to do. We have never said we were done here. We have always been very clear that there is more work to do. But we have seen the reality is we have seen the fastest decline in gasoline prices in over a decade. That’s because of what this President has done. And again, prices going down by more than dollar per gallon and these are real savings are talking about $100 per month in savings for average family with two cars.”

Watch this short clip below or at this link.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Top Anti-Abortion Lobbying Org Doubles Down to Support ‘Pro-Life’ Herschel Walker Despite Report and Son’s Allegations

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October 4, 2022

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The top anti-abortion lobbying group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, doubling down in their support for Herschel Walker, the GOP’s nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, despite a damning report in the media and allegations from Walker’s own son.

Overnight The Daily Beast reported Walker, who claims to be against all abortion, paid for an abortion for his girlfriend. Walker has attacked U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, his Democratic opponent, over abortion, drumming up falsehoods like saying Warnock, a Christian pastor who is pro-choice, “relished a woman killing her baby.”

Walker’s own son, Christian Walker, who has been a steadfast supporter publicly of his father’s candidacy, revealed overnight and Tuesday morning that his father has committed “atrocities” against their family, caused his mother and him to move six times in six months, and was an absentee father despite attacking Black men in general for that very same behavior.

READ MORE: ‘Everything Has Been a Lie’: Christian Walker Drops Damning New Video Blasting His Father’s ‘Lies’ Over Abortion

Now, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, once called the Susan B. Anthony List, is standing by Walker despite his reported abortion actions.

Axios’ Alexi McCammond says they asked SBA Pro-Life America if the anti-abortion lobbying organization still supported Walker.

“Hershel Walker has denied these allegations in the strongest possible terms and we stand firmly alongside him,” SBA spokesperson Mallory Carroll told McCammond.

“She added that their GA field team ‘has visited more than 310,000 homes across the state in support of pro-life candidates like Herschel and against the extremism of Sen. Warnock and Stacy Abrams, and we will continue through Election Day,'” McCammond reports.

READ MORE: Herschel Walker Has a Second Secret Child – Despite Denouncing ‘Fatherless’ Black Homes

SBA tweeted their support of Walker back in May, calling him a “pro-life champion” when they endorsed him.

In January of 2020 Right Wing Watch reported the “Susan B. Anthony List and its Women Speak Out super PAC are launching a $52 million campaign effort on behalf of [re-electing] Trump and Republican senators.”

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