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Watch: Melissa Harris-Perry Slams Mississippi Gov. For Signing Anti-Gay Law

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My husband and I love the weekends. It gives us a chance to relax and reconnect, to build traditions and to return all that stuff to Macy’s we bought for our new home. (OK, maybe we don’t love that part.) We love sleeping late, taking the dogs for a walk and grabbing breakfast from the amazing Leo’s Bagels. And then we love watching Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC.

MHP writes an open letter every Saturday, usually slamming someone for something awful they did. But, being a college professor in her non-MSNBC time, she teaches he readers why what the  subject of her open letter did was so wrong.

Here’s Melissa’s letter to Mississippi‘s Governor Phil Bryant, who, as regular New Civil Rights Movement readers know, last week was all too quick to sign an anti-LGBT, pro-discrimination bill into law. And then Governor Bryant hightailed it over to hate group leader Tony Perkins‘ radio show (Perkins was on stage at the bill signing, so they probably drove over to the radio station together) to mischaracterize and brag about the bill.

MHP calls this, “A letter to Phil Bryant about putting rights in God’s hands.”

Below, text and video via MSNBC:

http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/EmbeddedOffSite?guid=n_mhp_11letter_140405

Dear Gov. Bryant,

It’s me, Melissa.

You signed the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Thursday, and here’s what you said about the new law: that it will “protect the individual religious freedom of Mississippians of all faiths from government interference.”

Now, I’ve got to hand it to your party’s lawmakers, governor. They were able to avoid a national firestorm by making their bill’s language even more vague than that of the Arizona bill. All the new Mississippi law says is that persons can use their religious beliefs to challenge or defend themselves against state law. It does not define “person,” which the Arizona bill did, to include businesses. And it does not define the “exercise of religion” beyond the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

An earlier version of the bill – which died in the outcry over Arizona – had defined religious exercise to include the refusal to act in a manner that conflicts with one’s beliefs. Like, say, refusing to take wedding photos for a gay couple. So the whitewashing of the language was enough to placate the Mississippi Chamber of Commerce, which had originally opposed the bill. It passed this Tuesday.

But we see you, governor!

The ACLU says the bill will still open the door for individuals and businesses to use claims of religious freedom to discriminate. And we only have to look to Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, who was at your side during the private bill signing, to get a clear example of just who the law will protect. Like, as Perkins said, quote,

“…a wedding vendor, whose orthodox Christian faith will not allow her to affirm same-sex ‘marriage.’”

Yeah, we can see you, governor.

It’s not like the people of Mississippi are under the thumb of onerous state laws that protect LGBT people. Same-sex marriage is banned in Mississippi by constitutional amendment. You can’t even have a wedding for a vendor to refuse to work!

And you can already be discriminated against for your sexual orientation in Mississippi. You can be fired or not hired just for being gay. You can be denied housing. So, governor, what you did was make it even easier than it already was to discriminate against LGBT Mississippians. To deny them services available to everyone else. Basically, you gave bigots yet another avenue to dehumanize their LGBT neighbors.

That’s not all the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does. It also adds the words “In God We Trust” to the official state seal, something that was such a legislative priority for you that you made special reference to it in your January State of the State address:

“With your help, the seal of the State of Mississippi will, from this session forward, reflect the simple yet profound words ‘In God We Trust’.”

Governor, you made it a priority to add a few words to the state seal. A priority for Mississippi, where more than one in five people live in poverty, more than any other state in the country. The state where more people struggle to afford food than in any other. The state with the shortest life expectancy and the highest infant mortality rate. The state with the second-lowest high school graduation rate and the lowest math and reading scores of any state.

“In God We Trust.” But that goes both ways, governor. The way God works – at least in the Christian tradition, which you and 84% of Mississippians follow – the way God works is throughhis followers. “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said.

So when you put Mississippi in God’s hands, governor – you gotta hold up your end of the bargain.

Sincerely,
Melissa

One quick note: Melissa says the the Mississippi bill varies from the Arizona bill in part because it ors not classify corporations as people. But as Zack Ford reported, Mississippi law already does that, so there was no need to repeat that language. In short, the bill is more like Arizona than many believed.

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‘Lied Through His Teeth’: Senator Warns RFK Jr. Undermining Vaccine Will ‘Kill’ Kids

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2 days ago

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May 16, 2025

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U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is accusing Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of lying during his Senate testimony this week, and warning that the HHS chief’s efforts to destroy faith in the measles vaccine will lead to children dying.

“It’s not a small thing that Trump’s Cabinet thinks Congress and the American people are so dumb that they can tell brazen lies over and over. We can’t normalize this,” Senator Murphy urged.

“The way in which Trump and Trump’s cabinet lie through their teeth, unapologetically and brazenly, to Congress and the American people, is outrageous,” Murphy said in video (below) he posted online Friday. “And I really worry that we risk normalizing it by not calling it out when it happens.”

He called the exchange he had with RFK Jr. “maddening” and “heartbreaking,” and said the HHS Secretary “essentially says that he’s no longer recommending that families get the measles vaccine. That’s going to kill hundreds, if not thousands of kids in this country.”

Murphy then played a clip from Kennedy’s testimony (which NCRM covered earlier this week), and, he said, caught Kennedy in a lie.

RELATED: ‘None of That Is True’: RFK Jr. Fact-Checked Repeatedly in Heated Senate Hearing

“By the way,” Kennedy told Murphy, “I said at the [House] hearing this morning that I was recommending the measles vaccine,” and told him to “look at the transcript.”

“So guess what I did?” Murphy says. “I went and checked the House transcript. It’s hours of testimony. I and my staff watched all of it, and guess what? Nowhere, nowhere in that transcript does he say he recommends the measles vaccine.”

“He lied through his teeth, and he did it because all of these MAGA sycophants have gotten used to lying. Donald Trump does it all the time, so they think they can do it as well. But we can’t normalize this because you can’t run a country if your leaders are lying to you every single day,” the Connecticut Democrat warned.

“RFK Jr. doesn’t support the measles vaccine, and he shouldn’t pretend that he does. He undermines the vaccine on a daily basis and whether we like his conspiracy theory positions or not, he should just be honest with the American people. They should all be honest with the American people, and none of us should normalize or get used to this amount of lying.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘It Meant Assassination’: Trump Blasts ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey for ‘8647’

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‘It Meant Assassination’: Trump Blasts ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey for ‘8647’

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2 days ago

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May 16, 2025

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President Donald Trump is attacking the FBI Director he fired, Jim Comey, who is reportedly under investigation  over a photo of sea shells formed into the numbers 8647. Top Trump law enforcement and intelligence officials claim it is a call for the assassination of the 47th President, although “86” is generally understood to mean “reject” or “eject,” and, since the 1930s, in restaurant parlance, has meant a menu item is unavailable.

“He knew exactly what that meant,” President Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that will air Friday evening. “A child knows what that meant.”

“If you’re the FBI Director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination.’ And it says it loud and clear,” Trump alleged.

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“Now, he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant, and he did it for a reason, and he was hit so hard because people like me, and they like what’s happening with our country. Our country’s become respected again,” the President claimed. “And he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”

Baier interjected, saying: “Obviously, he apologized and said he —”

“Well, he apologized because he was hit,” Trump also claimed. “Look, he’s a very bad —”

When asked what he wants to see happen to the former Director of the FBI, Trump said he did not want to weigh in, and would let his Attorney General handle it.

“I don’t want to take a position on it because that’s gonna be up to Pam [Bondi] and all of the great people, but I will say this. I think it’s a terrible thing. And when you add his history to that, if he had a clean history, he doesn’t.”

“He’s a dirty cop. He’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency. But I’m going to let them make that decision.”

READ MORE: ‘Mad King’: Trump Teases ‘Fourth’ Term to U.S. Troops Overseas

Trump Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News on Thursday night she thinks Comey should go to prison for posting the “8647” photo.

Asked, “Do you believe Comey should be in jail?” Gabbard replied, “I do.”

“Any other person with the position of influence that he has,” she added, “people who take very seriously what what a guy of his stature, his experience, and what the propaganda media has built him up to be?”

“I’m very concerned for the president’s life. We’ve already seen assassination attempts,” she continued. “I’m very concerned for his life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”

But others commenting via social media were quick to point to a number of “86” posts apparently made by right wing influencers and even a former member of Congress, as well as T-shirts for sale during the Biden years.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Significant Damage’: Walmart’s ‘Magnitude’ Warning to Consumers Spurs Trump Tariff Critics

 

Image via Reuters

 

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‘Mad King’: Trump Teases ‘Fourth’ Term to U.S. Troops Overseas

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3 days ago

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May 15, 2025

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During a rally-style appearance before uniformed U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday, President Donald Trump—serving as their Commander-in-Chief—floated the idea of a “fourth” term and falsely claimed victory in the 2020 election he lost. The appearance drew swift criticism for blurring the line between military service and political theater.

“As you know, we won three elections, okay?” Trump told the largely silent troops (video below). “And some people want us to do a fourth. I don’t know—I’ll have to think about that.”

“You saw the new, the new hat. The hottest hat is, it says, ‘Trump 2028: We’re driving the left crazy.'”

“When you see that. We didn’t need that hat, but, uh, it was it’s been an amazing period of time,” he concluded.

READ MORE: ‘Significant Damage’: Walmart’s ‘Magnitude’ Warning to Consumers Spurs Trump Tariff Critics

Noting that Trump was speaking “at the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East,” CNN reported that the President “thanked the U.S. troops for political support.”

“There’s – nobody been stronger than the military in terms of backing us, nobody,” Trump said. “So, I just want to thank you all very much. Great honor. Thank you very much.”

CBS News national security coordinating producer Jim LaPorta, who has reported extensively on the military, wrote: “If this was a rally, the president’s remarks would be fine. But in front of service members who are expected to be apolitical, many Defense Department officials would find these remarks inappropriate.”

READ MORE: ‘Deeply Fascist’: Massive Banner of Trump on Government Building Sparks ‘North Korea’ Vibes

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein observed: “Treating the troops like they’re at a campaign rally and sowing doubt about the past and future of American elections — all in one soundbite.”

Democratic pollster and strategist Luke Martin called it “especially jarring to see Trump flirting with blowing a hole in the Constitution in front of an entire crowd of people who literally swore an oath to protect it with their life.”

Independent journalist Mike Rothschild noted: “Making a statement like this in front of active duty troops would have generated months of scandal, hearings, and resignations in years gone by. Now it’s just another Thursday with the Mad King.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: GOP Plan Redefines Dependent Child as ‘Under 7’—But Adds Loophole for Married Couples

 

Image via Reuters

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