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Texas GOP To Consider Anti-Gay Resolution Directly Defying SCOTUS Marriage Decision

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A new proposal calls for Lone Star State to go all Kim Davis.

The Texas GOP may be about to go all Kim Davis. 

Anti-LGBT activists want the state’s Republican Party to approve a resolution calling on GOP Gov. Greg Abbott to convene a special session of the Legislature to pass a bill that would directly defy the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. 

The bill would bar state and local employees from issuing, enforcing or recognizing same-sex marriage licenses — and prohibit public monies from being used to do so — regardless of any court order.

“Traditional marriage and religious liberty are under attack all across the nation,” former Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill (photo) wrote in an email Friday. “We recently witnessed a federal judge incarcerate a Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, because she refused to compromise on her faith and issue homosexual marriage licenses. In my hometown of Houston, we continue to battle Mayor Annise Parker and her liberal LGBT agenda for the City of Houston. Ultimately, the goal of the left is to silence people of faith and require them to sacrifice their deeply held religious beliefs on the altar of political correctness. We must not allow this to happen on our watch!”

Woodfill goes on to quote anti-gay marriage planks in the 2014 Texas GOP platform, which call for “withholding jurisdiction from the federal courts in cases involving family law, especially any changes in the definition of marriage.” And he notes the demise of anti-LGBT legislation in the 2015 legislative session. Woodfill says State Republican Executive Committee member Terry DuBose will introduce the resolution Saturday. 

The resolution states that the high court issued “a non-Constitutional opinion purporting to overturn Traditional/Natural Marriage,” but says that under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, no branch of the federal government has the power to “redefine” it. It says that the high court’s decision “usurps the powers of the U.S. Congress and the states [SIC] sovereignty …”

Despite calls from anti-LGBT activists, Abbott declined to call a special session on same-sex marriage in June. This was after more than 20 anti-LGBT proposals died, in large part due to opposition from the state’s chamber of commerce, the Texas Association of Business. 

HB 4105, an anti-gay marriage bill from GOP Rep. Cecil Bell Jr., was defeated after House Democrats ran out the clock on the legislation.

According to the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, the Executive Committee is also set to consider a resolution Saturday that “would exclude any organization who rejects any of its ‘core principles’ — including opposition to marriage equality— from formal participation in the Texas State Republican Convention.” Log Cabin has repeatedly been denied a booth at the convention over the years.

“The idea that the Texas GOP is once again considering excluding Log Cabin Republicans from the exhibitor hall at the state convention is indeed a troubling one,” Log Cabin Republicans of Texas Chair Jeff Davis said in a statement Friday. “We’ve gone down this road several times already, both in Texas and in other parts of the country, and every time it results in bad press for the party. Moreover, it doesn’t deter Log Cabin Republicans one bit. If anything, it shows us that we have more work to do and it emboldens us to become even more involved. It inspires our members to become precinct chairs and delegates who attend convention with the power to change the party platform. If the party can accept us as precinct chairs and delegates, why can it not accept our money when we wish to purchase a space in the exhibitor hall? If excluding us from the exhibitor hall has caused embarrassing headlines before, what’s to be gained by doing the same thing again, especially on the eve of the national convention and a presidential election?” 

Read the proposed resolution on same-sex marriage below. 

 

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News

‘Start the Kevin McCarthy Death-Clock’ After Biden Wins Debt Ceiling Battle: Rick Wilson

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Appearing late Saturday night on MSNBC after it was announced that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement “in principle’ on a budget deal, former GOP strategist Rick Wilson claimed this could be the beginning of the end for McCathy’s speakership.

Sitting in on a panel with guest host Michael Steele, Wilson suggested that McCarthy’s decision to compromise with the president to avoid a default that would spin the economy into chaos will not go over well with far-right members of his House caucus who could make a motion to “vacate the chair” to express their displeasure.

Asked by host Steel about what comes next, Wilson stated it was a win for the White House which will not make conservatives happy.

RELATED: ‘Crazy cuckoo MAGA people’ could sink debt ceiling deal: Dem strategist

“Great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative the past few weeks” the Lincoln Project founder began. “I think though we are now going to start the Kevin McCarthy death-clock. He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who probably burning up his phone no matter how good it is for the country not to default.”

“It’s not going to please the chaos caucus in the GOP,” he added.

Watch below or at the link:

 

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News

Debt Ceiling: McCarthy Faces ‘Lingering Anger’ and a Possible Revolt as Far-Right House Members Start Issuing Threats

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As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to negotiate a deal to avoid a debt crisis, members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are growing furious with him over broken promises he made to them.

According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, with a slim GOP majority in the House, McCarthy is walking a tightrope to get a budget deal passed and may need help from House Democrats if members of his caucus refuse to go along with him.

As Benen points out, in order to win the speakership McCarthy agreed to an easier path for a motion to “vacate the chair” which could end his tenure as Speaker. That could come into play if the Freedom Caucus stages a revolt.

“… as the negotiations approach an apparent finish line, the House Republicans’ most radical faction is learning that it isn’t likely to get everything its members demanded — and for the Freedom Caucus, that’s not going to work,” he wrote in his MSNBC column.

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Trump in danger of heightened espionage charges after bombshell report: legal expert

Citing a Washington Times report that stated, “[Freedom Caucus members] want everything from the debt limit bill passed by the House last month plus several new concessions from the White House,” Benen suggested far-right House Republicans are now issuing veiled threats.

In an interview, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated, “I am going to have to go have some blunt conversations with my colleagues and the leadership team. I don’t like the direction they are headed.”

With Politico reporting, “The [House Freedom Caucus] was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership,” Benen added, “If this is simply a matter of lingering ill-will from members who come to believe that GOP leaders ‘caved,’ the practical consequences might be limited. But let’s also not forget that McCarthy, while begging his own members for their support during his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, agreed to tweak the motion-to-vacate-the-chair rules, which at least in theory, would make it easier for angry House Republicans to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position.”

Adding the caveat that he is not predicting an imminent McCarthy ouster he added, “But if the scope of the Freedom Caucus’ discontent reaches a fever pitch, a hypothetical deal clears thanks to significant Democratic support, don’t be surprised if we all start hearing the phrase ‘vacate the chair” a lot more frequently.”

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BREAKING NEWS

Prosecutors Tell Trump They Have a Recording of Him and a Witness: Report

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Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”

CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.

It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.

READ MORE: ‘Likely to Be Indicted Soon’: Trump Might Face Seven Different Felonies, Government Watchdog Says

According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.

See the discovery form above or at this link.

Image via Shutterstock

 

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