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White House Petition: End Foreign Aid To Uganda If ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill Passes

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var addthis_config = {“data_track_addressbar”:true};Uganda is determined to pass their infamous “Kill The Gays” bill, and the U.S. has already threatened to end foreign aid to the country if they do. Congress determines how much funding for foreign aid the State Department is allowed to grant. But it’s far from a guarantee that Congress would act to do so, especially given they are on vacation, and are faced with the so-called “fiscal cliff” upon their return. And the State Department can withdraw that aid.

Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, says the internationally-controversial “Kill The Gays” bill will become law soon as a “Christmas gift” to Ugandan Christians.

So a few days ago, a man named “Andy S” petitioned the White House — using the same mechanism residents from almost every state have to ask Obama to let them secede — to “remove all foreign aid to Uganda and impose sanctions if the “Kill the Gays” bill is passed by the legislature.”

The signors of this petition request that the Obama administration not only state their displeasure at this bill as they have already done, but to also attach real consequences to the passing of this bill in the form of loss of trade status and foreign aid. We would also request that the Obama administration petition the UN to have the security council vote on international sanctions. We feel that this gross human rights violation requires no less of a response.

The “Kill The Gays” bill, which, by the way, came about thanks to America’s religious right injecting themselves and their lies into Uganda, indeed provides for the death penalty for repeated acts of homosexuality, and even calls for mandatory jail time for those who merely assist an LGBT person. Rent a room to a gay man? Go to jail. Don’t tell the police your daughter is lesbian? Go to jail.

“If the bill before the Ugandan parliament becomes law, it must be the policy of the United States government to oppose any aid to Uganda from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, or any other international financial institution of which we are a member,” said retiring U.S. Congressman Barney Frank last year.

The United States gave Uganda $487.4 million in 2010 in economic and military assistance.

“Cables from the US Department of State that were recently published on Wikileaks suggest that the Ugandan government quickly capitulated to pressure from foreign governments and promised to let the ‘kill-the-gays’ bill die in legislative committee,” Gay City News reported in August.

In August, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Africa and spent time in Uganda discussing HIV/AIDS. Above, an image of Secretary Clinton and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala, Uganda.

Highlighting the UN General Assembly’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Secretary Clinton in December of 2011 said, “Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct; but, in fact, they are one and the same.” Secretary Clinton also said that “it should never be a crime to be gay,” and, as she has said before, “gay rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are gay rights.”

You can help move the petition forward to ensure the White House responds by signing it.

 

Related:

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Better Know A Hate Group: Scott Lively And Abiding Truth Ministries

Tony Perkins In 2010 Said Uganda’s ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill ‘Upholds Moral Conduct’

‘Kill The Gays’ Architect Pushes Claim ‘Obama May Be Gay And Previously Married To A Man’

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BREAKING NEWS

Trump Indictment Is a Massive 34 Counts: CNN

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When he appears in New York next week, Donald Trump will face a 34-count indictment.

CNN’s John Miller on-air Thursday evening announced, “I am told by my sources that this is 34 counts of falsification of business records, which is probably a lot of charges involving each document, each thing that was submitted, as a separate count.”

Attorney Tristan Snell, who assisted in the successful prosecution of the Trump University case for the New York Attorney General’s Office, responded via Twitter:

“This is WAY more than expected. If this is correct, it could mean that the indictment covers FAR more than the Stormy Daniels hush money — like Karen McDougal hush money or other hush money/catch-and-kill cases.”

READ MORE: Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’

“My hunch for a while,” Snell adds, “given [David] Pecker’s involvement and the drawn-out timetable of the indictment, plus the TWENTY interviews of Michael Cohen with the DA, showed that something far larger than Stormy might be in the works.”

“May still be wrong, of course. But 34 counts is a LOT!”

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News

Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’

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Donald Trump’s attorneys were notified Thursday afternoon a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict him on felony charges related to his alleged hush money payoff of a porn star he reported slept with.

The ex-president’ attorney recently said if indicted Trump would travel to New York to turn himself in.

The Office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has just issued a strongly-worded statement saying it is “coordinating” with Trump’s attorneys for his “surrender.”

“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” the statement reads.

READ MORE: ‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

The Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery posted the statement to Twitter.

NBC News explains the process, noting he is expected to be arraigned next week.

“After the indictment, Trump will be arrested and taken into custody. He will likely have a mug shot and fingerprints taken,” NBC reports. “Trump will then appear in court to be arraigned, where he will hear charges and enter a plea. Two sources familiar with the situation told NBC News that the former president is likely to be arraigned next week. Trump will either be jailed or released while pre-trial hearings take place.”

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'INDICTED FOR HIS BEHAVIOR'

‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

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Just past 5:00 PM ET The New York Times broke the news that Donald Trump, the ex-president, had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on felony charges.

It is a historic moment.

Legal experts are weighing in to help guide Americans through an event that has never before happened in this country.

Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman says the fact that this is the first time in U.S. history a president is facing criminal charges is itself a problem.

“I think it would have not been a novel event,” Ackerman said on MSNBC, “if we had done this 49 years ago with Richard Nixon, and he had not been pardoned, this will not be a big event [that] it is today.”

READ MORE: New Poll Sends Trump Damning Message About 2024 if He’s Criminally Indicted

“Everybody should be held accountable,” Ackerman added, citing former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s earlier remarks. Cohen testified repeatedly before the Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump late Thursday afternoon after a three-hour session.

Ackerman lamented that despite over 30 people being indicted during Watergate, “Richard Nixon was pardoned, he wasn’t held accountable.”

“I think this is very important,” Ackerman continued, “establishing a principle, a line in the sand, that even if you’re the President of the United States, and you commit a crime, you can’t stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and just shoot somebody.”

Ackerman was referring to Trump’s infamous comments during the 2016 election, when he bragged he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

Attorney and civil rights activist Maya Wiley, also on MSNBC, said, “It’s important and sobering that we had somebody who had the highest office of this country who has now ben indicted for his behavior, his acts, in order to win that office, but also faces what are more shoes that will drop, I believe.”

“It is a sobering moment for this country, that we are witnessing this happened to somebody who was entrusted with such power who has now had a jury of his peers, because that is what a grand jury also is, say we believe he had to face the music.”

READ MORE: Here’s How Five Republicans in Congress Are Responding to the Mass Shooting of 3 Children and 3 Adults in Nashville (Video)

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, now a professor of law, called this a “moment where we would do well to seriously assess who we are as Americans and who we are not as Americans, because we re all so familiar with Donald Trump’s tactics.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

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