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Why The Palin ‘Faggot’ Comment Matters

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Editor’s note: See our update:
Bristol Palin: My Son Tripp Said The ‘F’ Word — But Not That ‘F’ Word

On a recent episode of the Lifetime reality series “Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp,” Tripp Palin, all of four-years old, says, “Go away you faggot” to his mom, Bristol Palin, and her sister, Willow Palin.

Who cares, right?

And that’s the problem.

A great many Americans — millions upon millions — actually do care, and see Sarah Palin and the Palin family as American royalty. If America didn’t care, would there even be a Palin reality series? No.

But watch the video.

Tripp Palin says “I hate you guys” and various versions of that several times. Bristol immediately lets Tripp know that’s not acceptable. She even attempts — albeit through laughter — a “God’s watching,” which is the ultimate in poor parenting; making children “behave” because “God’s watching.”

But when Tripp utters a horrific, “Go away you faggot,” Bristol and Willow laugh. Granted, it’s a somewhat embarrassed laugh, but they’re laughing.

(Note, as the slur was bleeped, we are taking the video recorder’s word for it, but Huffington Post had the same take. And, if not “faggot,” then, “fags.” Either way.)

And they don’t chastise or correct Tripp for using an anti-gay slur.

Because everyone thinks it’s funny. Everyone, including the people at Lifetime — who easily could have edited that out.

Calling people “faggot” isn’t funny. It’s not funny when four-year olds do it. it’s not funny when gay people do it. It’s not funny when gay-bashers do it. It’s plainly not funny — and it leads to anti-gay hatred, discrimination, and hate crimes, like yesterday’s where a Nebraska woman had the word “dyke” carved into her skin after three men broke into her home, bound her with zip ties, and set her house on fire.

Bristol Palin is a divorced, unmarried mother of a little boy, who claims to be a role model for her generation — so much so that she thinks she has the right to correct President Obama on his parenting skills. Yet she readily admits, in this video excerpt, that she’s “doing a terrible job disciplining Tripp…I know he’s going to continue to push the boundaries.”

The Huffington Post reminds us:

In 2010, Willow sparked controversy when she fired off at a classmate on Facebook, referring to him “so gay” and “such a faggot.”

Bristol’s chastising of Barack Obama — which, of course, the right wingers supported to the hilt — in the weeks after the President announced his support for same-sex marriage, was unconscionable, flawed, and downright idiotic.

Yet America rallied to her side, called her a victim — as she did herself, calling herself bullied to boot — and embraced her comment that “generally kids do better with mother/father families,” sans any proof, and sans the fact that she is an unmarried mother herself.

What the Palins say matter only because millions of Americans are listening, and accepting, without thought, what they say.

American Royalty is trashy. The Palins are trashy. As John Aravosis notes, “if Sarah Palin, or her unwed mother daughter, are going to lecture gay people about the needs of children, maybe they should start actually parenting their own children. Laughing when your kid utters a bigoted slur is not parenting.”

And laughing when your kid utters a bigoted slur while on national television is paving the way for more anti-gay hatred, bigotry, and violence.

When the slur comes out of the mouth of a four-year old, you can pretty much assume who put it in there in the first place.

UPDATE: Even if Tripp said “fuck” instead of “faggot,” as Bristol Palin now claims, she is still doing a poor job of parenting, and still has zero room to attack the President.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=92rnBF3wJ78%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US


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Tennessee Governor Slammed After ‘Praying’ for Nashville School Community Without Mentioning Mass Shooting

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March 27, 2023

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Governor Bill Lee quickly drew tremendous outrage in the wake of a school mass shooting where six people including three young children were shot to death. Social media users criticized the Tennessee Republican, who had signed a permit-less gun carry law, for declaring he was “praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community,” without posting any mention of the mass shooting.

Tweeting he was “closely monitoring the tragic situation at Covenant,” Gov. Lee said, “As we continue to respond, please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community.”

There was no mention of any loss of life, and, as Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts passionately noted, the “situation” was a mass shooting.

“If thoughts and prayers alone worked to stop gun violence, there wouldn’t have been a shooting at a Christian elementary school. It’s your actions – including weakening the state’s gun laws – that’s killing kids in Tennessee,” Watts also tweeted. “SHAME ON YOU.”

Gov. Lee signed a permit-less carry bill into law in 2021, at a Beretta gun manufacturing plant.

According to the CDC, as of 2020 – one year before the permit-less carry bill was signed into law – Tennessee ranked tenth in the nation in per-capita firearm mortality.

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Meanwhile, others took notice of the gun culture Gov. Lee has fostered in “The Volunteer State.”

MSNBC analyst and Bulwark writer Tim Miller commented, “Tennessee governor Bill Lee issued a statement recently about how the drag ban in Tennessee ‘protects children.’ If only he would have instead focused on laws that might have prevented the mass murder of children in his state today.”

Historian Kevin Kruse pointed to an article from last year, after the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, titled: “Rep. Clemmons Seeks Renewed Gun Laws, Gov. Lee Requests Prayer.”

“You chose prayer over gun reforms last year after the Uvalde massacre,” Kruse wrote. “And now here we are.”

The progressive website Tennessee Holler pointed out that Gov. Lee, along with GOP lawmakers, “just appointed Jordan Mollenhour to the [state] board of education— whose company was sued for selling ammo to an underage mass killer (SANTA FE) and sold ammo to at least one more (AURORA) He has ZERO education experience.”

Let’s Give a Damn founder Nick Laparra tweeted, “We are 86 days into 2023. So far, 9859 people have died by gun violence and there have been 128 mass shootings. Meanwhile, @GovBillLee spends his days being outraged over drag queens and CRT and book bans. This is Bill Lee’s and the GOP’s fault.”

See the tweets and video above or at this link.

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Mystery Grand Jury Witness in Trump Hush Money Probe Is Former ‘Enquirer’ Publisher and Trump Ally

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March 27, 2023

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Avid followers of the Manhattan District Attorney’s moves noted the grand jury had been called into service for Monday, and soon news leaked that yet another witness would be testifying in the probe into Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Monday afternoon, NBC News’ Garrett Haake reported live on MSNBC that the mystery witness was David Pecker, the former tabloid publisher of the “National Enquirer,” who reportedly had been looking for stories in 2016 to protect Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Haake notes Monday was Pecker’s second appearance before the grand jury in the hush money case.

The New York Times also reported David Pecker as the grand jury witness, calling Pecker “a key player in the hush-money matter. He and the tabloid’s top editor helped broker the deal between the porn star, Stormy Daniels, and Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s fixer at the time.”

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“While the focus of Mr. Pecker’s testimony is unclear, he could provide valuable information for prosecutors. A longtime ally of Mr. Trump, he agreed to keep an eye out for potentially damaging stories about Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign,” The Times reports. “For a brief time in October 2016, Ms. Daniels appeared to have just that kind of story. Her agent and lawyer discussed the possibility of selling exclusive rights to her story of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump to The National Enquirer, which would then promise to never publish it, a practice known as ‘catch and kill.'”

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman weighed in, noting, “nothing about that decision [to have Pecker testify] suggests any change of heart on Bragg’s part to indict Trump.”

Former Dept. of Defense Special Counsel Ryan Goodman, an NYU professor of law, notes that Pecker’s “testimony can show the [hush money] scheme was designed to affect outcome of election.”

“He reportedly communicated directly with Trump on payment,” Goodman adds.

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‘Our Children Deserve Better’: First Lady Jill Biden Speaks Out After Six Die in Nashville School Mass Shooting

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15 hours ago

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March 27, 2023

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First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, speaking Monday afternoon at a National League of Cities conference, told attendees, “Our children deserve better,” as she broke the news of the Nashville school mass shooting at Covenant Presbyterian School where three children and three adults were shot dead.

“You know,” Dr. Biden, herself an educator and clearly pained by the news, began her remarks by saying, “I hate to say what I’m gonna say next because you know you’re so enthusiastic and with so much energy and hope and I feel it.”

“But while you’ve been in this room, I don’t know whether you’ve been on your phones but we just learned about another shooting in Tennessee, a school shooting and I am truly without words and our children deserve better, and we stand – all of us – we stand with Nashville in prayer.”

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The First Lady, a former public high school English teacher and currently a professor of English at a community college, was speaking at the organization’s Congressional City Conference.

Watch Dr. Biden below or at this link.

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