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Voters To Tea Party And Republicans: Get Lost!

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Across the nation on election day Tuesday, voters — who went to the polls in higher-than usual numbers — had little trouble pushing back the inroads made by Republicans in the 2010 elections, and furthering the idea that American is not a center-right country. Democrats handily won a great number of races and important ballot issues, sending a strong message to the Republican Party and to the Tea Party: get lost!

The question now is, to what degree did the Occupy Wall Street movement impact Tuesday’s elections? There’s no way to measure, but I’ll offer this: had Occupy Wall Street either not happened, or had it been unsuccessful, voter turnout would have been lower, and Republicans would have performed better. Americans are angry, but too many progressives and Democrats have been far too complacent. Just as the Tea Party energized the Republican base when it first appeared on the scene, so has the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Critical decisions were made in favor of unions and workers’ rights, women’s rights, and LGBT candidates, who were huge winners across the country. Anti-gay, so-called “pro-family” organizations, like NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, Bob Vander Plaats‘ Family Leader, the American Family Association, and the Family Research Council, were crushed.

Even in conservative, religious, right-wing Mississippi, the “personhood” bill was roundly defeated. It would have made contraception and miscarriages illegal, declaring that life begins at the moment of conception.

The single-most important person who fathered Arizona’s infamous immigration law, SB 1070, was recalled. “Considered the de facto governor of Arizona, the seemingly invincible and right-wing extremist Pearce became the first state senate president in American history to be thrown out of office in a recall election,” Alternet reported.

Annise Parker, Houston’s first lesbian mayor, was re-elected.

In a huge loss for NOM, the Bob Vander Plaats, the Family Research Council, and the American Family Association, the Democratic Iowa Senate candidate Liz Mathis, who was attacked by “homosexual marriage includes homosexual sex” robocalls, beat her Republican opponent, securing the Iowa Senate for Democratic control, effectively preserving same-sex marriage for the state.

America’s “first openly gay, African American, Republican mayor,” Bruce Harris, was elected mayor of Chatham Borough, New Jersey.

Charlotte, North Carolina elected their “first openly LGBT elected official,” LaWana Mayfield (image, top), an African-American.

The Virginia Senate has its first openly gay Senator, Adam Ebbin.

Cincinnati, Ohio elected its “first openly LGBT council member in the city’s history,” Chris Seelbach.

Indianapolis, Indiana elected “its first openly LGBT city council member,” Zach Adamson.

Pam Spalding writes, “The smell of bigot flopsweat is in the air as anti-gay Durham, NC mayoral candidate Pastor Sylvester Williams (18%) is trounced by incumbent ally Bill Bell (82%) with 90% of precincts in.”

Here’s a roundup of key races and decisions:

The Good:

Arizona Topples Senate President Russell Pearce, SB 1070 Immigration Law Architect, in Historic Recall Vote

Liz Mathis Wins Iowa State Senate District 18

AP: Maine Voters Say Yes To Same Day Registration (Question One) (TPM)

Va. elects first openly gay state  (Washington Blade)

Nation’s youngest gay mayor elected (Gay Politics)

Kentucky’s Democratic governor won re-election and a controversial anti-union measure championed by Republicans in Ohio went down to defeat (Reuters)

Mississippi: ballot initiative that would have declared life begins at conception defeated (AP)

Read Chris Geidner’s roundup at MetroWeekly.

Gay candidates win big across North Carolina (Q Notes)

“Democrat Jack Conway was re-elected as Kentucky’s attorney general, defeating a Republican prosecutor, Todd P’Pool, who tried to turn the race into a referendum on President Obama’s federal health care law.” (USA Today)

The Bad:

Ledyard Town Clerk Rose Marie Belforti who refused to issue a same-sex couple a marriage license is overwhelmingly reelected (Syracuse.com)

Republican Phil Bryant wins Mississippi gubernatorial election

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Pete Buttigieg Nails Trump for His Ugly Comments About Wounded Vets

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During his Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out Donald Trump over reports he told military leaders he didn’t want wounded vets to be seen by the public while he was president.

In a recent Atlantic profile of General Mark Milley, the retiring military office recounted the former president telling him “no one wants to see” wounded soldiers, with Milley adding he found Trump’s attitude to those serving their country “superficial, callous, and, at the deepest human level, repugnant.”

Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan during his 8 years while in the Naval Reserve, was asked by CNN host Dana Bash about the former president’s apparent distaste for service members.

“I want to ask you about a new Atlantic profile that says that then President Trump complained to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley after an Army veteran who lost a leg in combat sang at an event at the Pentagon,” Bash prompted her guest. “Trump reportedly told Milley, ‘Why do you bring people like that here, no one wants to see that, the wounded.'”

“After that article came out, Trump attacked Milley on social media, kind of a rambling post, but suggested that milley deserved the death penalty. You’re a veteran– what’s your response?” she asked.

“It’s just the latest in a pattern of outrageous attacks on the people who keep the country safe,” the Biden administration official replied.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

After pointing to fellow vets who suffered horrific injuries, he added, “These are the kind of people that deserve respect and a hell of a lot more than that from every American, and definitely from every American president.”

“And the idea that an American president, the person to whom service members look at as a commander in chief, and the person who sets the tone for this entire country could think that way or act that way or talk that way about anyone in uniform, and certainly about those who put their bodies on the line and sacrificed in ways that most Americans will never understand, and I guess wounded veterans make president Trump feel uncomfortable.”

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‘Scared to Death’: Trump’s Prison Panic Admission Means He Knows He’s Doomed Says Legal Expert

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Reacting to a report that Donald Trump has been quizzing his attorneys about what type of prison he likely will be sent to, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner stated that is not only an indication that he knows he’s going to be convicted but also an admission of guilt.

Speaking with MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, the attorney was asked about a recent Rolling Stone report about Trump’s prison panic.

As Rolling Stone reported, Trump asked if he’s “be sent to a ‘club fed’ style prison — a place that’s relatively comfortable, as far these things go — or a ‘bad’ prison? Would he serve out a sentence in a plush home confinement? Would government officials try to strip him of his lifetime Secret Service protections? What would they make him wear, if his enemies actually did ever get him in a cell — an unprecedented set of consequences for a former leader of the free world.”

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

According to the attorney, Trump is revealing himself by asking for so many details.

“What does this tell you about Trump’s mindset?” host Capehart asked.

“It tells me he is scared to death” Kirschner quickly answered. “It tells me he has overwhelming consciousness of guilt because he knows what he did wrong and he knows he is about to be held accountable for his crimes. So it is not surprising that he is obsessing.”

“If he was confident that he would be completely exonerated, would he have to obsess about what his future time in prison might look like?” he suggested. “I think the last refuge for Donald Trump can be seen in a recent post where he urged the Republicans to defund essentially the prosecutions against him. which, to this prosecutor, Jonathan, smells a lot like an attempt to obstruct justice.”

Watch below or at the link.

 

Image via Shutterstock

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‘Vulgar and Lewd’: Trump Judge Cites Extremist Group to Allow Drag Show Ban

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A federal judge in Texas known for a ruling that attempted to ban a widely-used abortion drug is citing an extremist anti-LGBTQ group in his ruling allowing a ban on drag shows to stay in place.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a former attorney for an anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian legal organization, and a member of the Federalist Society, in his 26-page ruling dated Thursday cited the “About” page of Gays Against Groomers to claim, “it’s unclear how drag shows unmistakably communicate advocacy for LGBT rights.”

Judge Kacsmaryk, appointed by Donald Trump twice before finally assuming office in 2019, suggests the First Amendment does not provide for freedom of expression for drag shows, calls drag “sexualized conduct,” and says it is “more regulable” because “children are in the audience.”

READ MORE: ‘The Public Deserves to Know’: Abortion Pill Banning Judge Redacted Details About Millions of Dollars in His Stock Portfolio

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern adds, “Kacsmaryk’s conclusion that drag is probably NOT protected by the First Amendment conflicts with decisions from Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Montana which held that drag is constitutionally protected expression. It also bristles with undisguised hostility toward LGBTQ people.”

Calling the judge “a proud Christian nationalist who flatly refuses to apply binding Supreme Court precedent when it conflicts with his extremist far-right beliefs,” Stern at Slate writes that Kacsmaryk ruled drag “may be outlawed to protect ‘the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.’ In short, he concluded that drag fails to convey a message, while explaining all the reasons why he’s offended by the message it conveys.”

Stern does not let Kacsmaryk off the hook there.

“From almost any other judge, the ruling in Spectrum WT v. Wendler would be a shocking rejection of basic free speech principles; from Kacsmaryk, it’s par for the course. This is, after all, the judge who sought to ban medication abortion nationwide, restricted minors’ access to birth control, seize control over border policy to exclude asylum-seekers, and flouted recent precedent protecting LGBTQ+ equality,” Stern says.

READ MORE: Far-Right Judge Under Fire for Failing to Disclose Interviews on Civil Rights – but LGBTQ Community Had Warned Senators

“He is also poised to bankrupt Planned Parenthood by compelling them to pay a $1.8 billion penalty on truly ludicrous grounds. And he is not the only Trump-appointed judge substituting his reactionary beliefs for legal analysis. We have reached a point where these lawless decisions are not only predictable but inevitable, and they show no sign of stopping: Their authors are still just settling into a decadeslong service in the federal judiciary.”

West Texas A&M University President Walter V. Wendler penned the letter that sparked the lawsuit.

Titled, “A Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing,” Wendler wrote: “I believe every human being is created in the image of God and, therefore, a person of dignity. Being created in God’s image is the basis of Natural Law. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, prisoners of the culture of their time as are we, declared the Creator’s origin as the foundational fiber in the fabric of our nation as they breathed life into it. Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not.”

Journalist Chris Geidner concludes, “It’s an extremely biased ruling by a judge who has established that he does not care about being overturned — even by the most conservative appeals court in the nation.”

READ MORE: ‘Corruption of the Highest Order’: Experts ‘Sickened’ at ‘Definitely Bought’ Clarence Thomas and His ‘Pay to Play’ Lifestyle

 

 

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