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UPDATED: Kim Davis’ Attorneys Refuse To Retract, Apologize For False Claim 100,000 Peruvians Rallied For Her

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No, despite repeated claims by Kim Davis’ attorneys, 100,000 Christians in Peru did not attend a prayer rally for Kim Davis, and they don’t seem like they’re going to apologize or admit they were wrong.

Editor’s note: See update at bottom.

Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver Saturday night told hundreds of conservatives attending Family Research Council Action’s Values Voter Summit Saturday night that 100,000 Christians in Lima, Peru held a prayer rally for Kim Davis.

Here’s the photo Staver claimed was proof of the prayer rally:

not_kim_davis_rally_insert.jpg

When Zack Ford at ThinkProgress, working with Twitter user @DCHomos, thoroughly debunked Staver’s claim, he doubled down, issuing two press releases insisting the event took place.

While meetings of 70,000 to 100,000 Christians in a soccer stadium may shock people in the United States, they are much more common in Peru. Oftentimes such gatherings do not appear on traditional media any more than the weekly church services in the United States appear on television,’ Staver’s press release claimed.

Late Monday night, Ford and @DCHomos located and published the original source of the photo Staver insisted was proof of “the worldwide support expressed by Christians for Kim Davis.”

Posted by Movimiento Misionero Mundial en el Perú on Sunday, May 25, 2014

Yes, a May, 2014 post to Facebook by the World Missionary Movement in Peru. May, 2014, and obviously nothing to do with Kim Davis, a year before she even came into the spotlight.

Matt Barber, who runs the viciously anti-gay website BarbWire and works with or has worked with Liberty Counsel had published an attack against Ford and Think Progress, but was forced to admit and apologize for his error: 

Screen_Shot_2015-09-29_at_9.06.02_AM.jpg

But Liberty Counsel as of this writing is digging in its heels.

Its press release still remains on its website, and the only acknowledgment of ThinkProgress’ thorough and now repeated debunking of its false claim is this tweet, passing off all responsibility:

Screen_Shot_2015-09-29_at_9.02.28_AM.jpg

Is it Liberty Counsel’s policy to merely repeat any claims told to them, without question or investigation, and then, refuse to apologize or correct the record when proven wrong?

If and when Liberty Counsel publicly acknowledges their claim was false and apologizes, we’ll update this post.

UPDATE: 12:15 PM Eastern –
As promised, we are updating this post with Liberty Counsel’s response, which as of this writing is not linked to their front page, where their original press release insisting the photo was real still exists.

It now appears that while prayer meetings did occur throughout Peru, the photograph presented to Mat Staver was an honest mistake and was of a different Christian assembly in a soccer field,” the statement, rather lengthy, reads, not mentioning the photo is more than a year old. “While people in Peru did pray on September 13, we have now learned that the photograph was not of the prayer meeting.”

Staver still insists “the photograph was an honest mistake.”

You’ll note that if you read the entire statement at Liberty Counsel’s website, it does not state that 100,000 people in Peru gathered together to pray for Kim Davis. Note, too, that there was no apology, nor likely, will there be any attempt to notify the hundreds of people Staver misrepresented the image to. Liberty Counsel is welcome to contact us with proof should they make that attempt.

 

EARLIER:

Liberty Counsel Totally Stands By Discredited Claim 100,000 Peruvians Rallied For Kim Davis

Did Kim Davis’ Attorney Lie That 100,000 Christians In Peru Gathered To Pray For Her?

 

Image: Screenshot via FRC Action/YouTube

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‘He Is Not in Charge’: Trump Mocked After Asking What’s in His Own Executive Order

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President Donald Trump has signed more than 150 executive orders, often with cameras rolling and staff looking on. The ritual rarely varies: seated at the desk in the Oval Office, the President listens as someone—typically the White House Staff Secretary—reads a brief summary of the order. On occasion, Trump interjects with a question, prompting speculation that he may not be fully familiar with the contents. He is seldom seen fully reading the orders themselves, which can span anywhere from a few pages to nearly 70.

On Friday, President Trump signed several executive orders, but according to The Daily Beast, one particularly revealing moment suggested he may not have known what he was signing—describing it as “a telling moment” that implied the president hadn’t read the order.

“Are we doing something about the regulatory in here?” Trump asked a business person attending the event.

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“Several business leaders standing around him were quick to chime in that his order did address the regulations while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also responded, ‘You are, sir,'” The Daily Beast also reported.

At the end, Trump asked, “Is that it?” and one of the attendees replied, “That’s all we have for you now, sir.”

Then, rather than asking if there were any questions for him about the executive orders, Trump asked if anyone had any questions for the guests in the room, whom he called “brilliant.”

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Critics blasted the President.

Fred Wellman is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and a political consultant.

“He is not in charge,” Wellman alleged.

MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen snarked, “It’s almost as if Trump has cognitive deficiencies, which from what I hear on CNN is a major scandal.”

“’Is that it?’ while signing orders he doesn’t understand, parroting talking points he didn’t write, and pretending it’s leadership,” wrote investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze. “Peak performative confusion.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Franklin Graham Scores Pentagon Christian Prayer Services Invitation

 

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‘There Is No Tariff’: Trump Denies Policy Shift After Calling for 50% EU Tariff

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Just hours after President Donald Trump called for a 50% tariff on products from the European Union starting June 1, he told reporters “There is no tariff,” and “I’m not looking for a deal.”

“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at 7:43 AM. “Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable.”

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

While signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Friday, a reporter said to Trump, “You are deal maker, deal breaker—what are you hoping to achieve with a 50% tariff?”

“Well, I think this is—there is no tariff because what they’ll do is they’ll send their companies into the U.S. and build their plant,” the President responded. “You know, we have, I guess, over $12 trillion practically committed. You look at other presidents, haven’t had a trillion dollars for a year, two years, for three years.”

“We have numbers. Nobody’s ever seen numbers like we have. And if they build their plant here, then they have no tariff at all.”

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“Are you looking for a deal in nine days? Will you be able to do that, sir?” the reporter asked.

“I’m not looking for a deal. I mean, we’ve set the deal. It’s at 50%, but again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Franklin Graham Scores Pentagon Christian Prayer Services Invitation

 

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‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

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Former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers delivered sharp criticism of President Donald Trump and his administration for barring the nation’s oldest university from admitting foreign students—part of the President’s ongoing feud with several Ivy League institutions.

Harvard quickly sued the Trump administration. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s efforts to revoke Harvard’s ability to admit foreign students, which comprise about one-quarter of the school’s total enrolled population.

“U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs’ order provides temporary relief to the thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Ivy League school called part of the administration’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to ‘surrender its academic independence,'” Reuters reported.

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Summers, who not only helmed the nearly-four-century-old Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution, but also served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, took to social media to blast Trump and praise the school for fighting back.

“Harvard University is doing just the right thing,” Summers wrote. “This is extortion. It’s a vendetta using all powers of the government because of a political argument with Harvard. It is violating the First Amendment. It is also violating all the laws we have regarding administrative procedures.”

“The consequences are real,” he continued, “whether it’s students who are dissidents from tyrannies who are going to be sent home and possibly be imprisoned, whether it’s labs that are fighting cancer or diabetes, that are going to lose key people, whether it’s 7,000 people, some small fraction of whom are going to go on to be Prime Ministers of countries who’ve now been turned into enemies of the United States, whether it is the way in which America [is] seen when it expels people whose dream it was to come to Harvard to study, this is madness.”

And he criticized the move as a “gift” to enemy nations.

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“I cannot imagine a greater strategic gift that we could be giving to China and Russia, the enemies of freedom around the world,” Summers wrote. “If this lawsuit is allowed to stand, it is going to be incredibly damaging to Harvard. But that is the least of it. It is much more profound in how damaging this will be to the standing, the role and the position of the U.S. We used to be a beacon to the world. We’re now becoming a negative example. I imagine there must be great joy in Beijing and Moscow, seeing us implode with these kinds of policies.”

Current Harvard University President Alan Garber in a letter wrote: “For those international students and scholars affected by yesterday’s action, know that you are vital members of our community. You are our classmates and friends, our colleagues and mentors, our partners in the work of this great institution. Thanks to you, we know more and understand more, and our country and our world are more enlightened and more resilient. We will support you as we do our utmost to ensure that Harvard remains open to the world.”

Others weighed in as well.

“America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don’t align politically with the current head of the government,” wrote former Biden Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

“When Trump and [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem say that they are cutting off visas for Harvard students because of ‘DEI’ concerns, they mean that Harvard admits non white males and has non white male faculty. DEI is just now code for white male supremacy,” declared U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).

“The letter Noem sent to Harvard cites no law violated, no regulation broken, no policy ignored,” noted attorney and immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, “just a threat to punish Harvard for their refusal to hand over FIVE YEARS of video of every student protest at the university, among other things. THAT is weaponization of government.”

READ MORE: ‘Cut, Rip, Gut, Kill, Cruel’: Top Republican Lashes Out Over Dems Using These Words

 

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