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GOP Lawmaker’s Anti-Gay Marriage Campaign Backfiring Miserably In Tennessee

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LGBT Community ‘Firing on All Cylinders’ As State Bill, County Resolution Hit Roadblocks

Efforts to undermine the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage are starting to backfire — miserably — in Tennessee. 

On Thursday, headlines, first from The New Civil Rights Movement and later from some of Tennessee’s largest newspapers, including The Tennesseean and Nashville Scene, blared that an anti-gay marriage bill — introduced by GOP Rep. Mark Pody, who claims to be a “fiscal conservative” — could cost the state $8.5 billion in federal funds annually if it passes.  

Then, instead of approving a proposed a resolution that would have effectively endorsed the bill, the Rutherford County Commission amended the measure Thursday night so that it actually calls on the General Assembly to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which of course includes the freedom to marry. 

On top of all that, the push to defy the high court’s ruling, led by groups like the Family Action Council of Tennessee, is galvanizing the state’s LGBT community. 

“The media response to the TN ‘Natural Marriage Defense Act’ is just where we want it — overwhelmed by the cost of the legislation!” Executive Director Chris Sanders wrote Thursday on the Tennessee Equality Project’s Facebook page, adding that a petition against the bill has garnered more than 1,000 signatures. “It helps when we achieve victories like Rutherford County. The more we slow down, amend, or contain those anti-marriage equality resolutions, the less drive state legislators have to pass the TN Natural Marriage Defense Act. Despite how horrible the bill is, we’re all firing on all cylinders.” 

About 85 supporters of same-sex marriage, dressed in red, showed up for the Rutherford County Commission meeting Thursday night, with six of them speaking against the proposed anti-gay resolution. No one spoke in favor of it, and commissioners ultimately watered it down so much that it could actually be interpreted as an endorsement of same-sex marriage.

Fox 17 News’ Jen French reported from the meeting: 

Fox 17 later reported that “it’s not clear what the resolution accomplishes — if anything.” 

At least four counties in East Tennessee have passed anti-gay marriage resolutions in recent weeks, but in the southeastern suburbs of progressive Nashville, residents weren’t having it.  

“It has no legal effect and is simply an embarrassment to the citizens of Rutherford County,” Sara Mitchell told commissioners, according to The Daily Journal. “We don’t need to fight the Civil War again.”

“Leave the LGBT community alone,” said Caleb Banks, who compared the state’s marriage amendment to Jim Crow laws. “We will not be dominated by hate and bigotry.”

“What happened was the commissioners needed a way of saving face so they didn’t utterly withdraw the resolution, they just kept amending it until it didn’t do what it originally said,” the Equality Project’s Sanders said.

In response to the news about his bill’s astronomical fiscal note, Pody told The Tennesseean he hopes to work with legislative fiscal analysts to lower the cost of the bill — but he also vowed to continue pursuing it. 

“I am a fiscal conservative, so I’m one that would want that to be addressed properly,” Pody said. 

Who knows, given that Pody has said God told him to file the bill, maybe he can convince the good Lord to pick up the tab? 

 

Image: Screenshot via Fox 17

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Dominion Wins ‘Blockbuster Victories’ Against Fox News – Last Legal Issue Will Be Decided by a Jury: Report

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Dominion Voting Systems won what are being called “blockbuster victories” Friday afternoon when a judge ruled the company suing Fox News for $1.6 billion in a major defamation lawsuit had met its burden of proof that Rupert Murdoch‘s far-right wing cable channel had repeatedly made false statements.

The final, and likely greatest legal issue Dominion will have to prove will be actual malice. That issue will be decided in a jury trial, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis ruled Friday, according to Law & Crime.

Unlike previous cases, Fox News will reportedly not be able to argue the on-air statements its personalities made were opinion.

CNN legal analyst and Brookings senior fellow Norm Eisen calls Friday’s decision a “huge win for Dominion on their summary judgment motion against Fox News.”

READ MORE: Capitol Police Issue Warning Over Possible Trump Protests ‘Across the Country’

“Dominion won partial summary judgement that what Fox said about them was false! Now they just have to prove actual malice and damages,” Eisen says. “Meanwhile Fox’s motion was totally denied.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, an MSNBC contributor adds: “Dominion’s evidence Fox made false statements with reckless disregard  is as strong as any I’ve seen.”

The judge was very clear in his ruling.

“While the Court must view the record in the light most favorable to Fox, the record does not show a genuine issue of material fact as to falsity,” Judge Davis wrote. “Through its extensive proof, Dominion has met its burden of showing there is no genuine issue of material fact as to falsity. Fox therefore had the burden to show an issue of material fact existed in turn. Fox failed to meet its burden.”

READ MORE: ‘Propaganda Network’: Media Reporter Says Dominion Filing Exposes Fox News as ‘Void of the Most Basic Journalistic Ethics’

Attorney and MSNBC host and legal analyst Katie Phang points to this key passage in Judge Davis’ ruling.

Court watchers and news junkies are familiar at this point with the massive legal filings Dominion has made in which it exposed how Fox News knowingly made false statements regarding the 2020 presidential election. Those filings, each hundreds of pages, also detail internal Fox News communications and bombshell conversations between the company’s top personalities, executives, and even Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

 

Image of Rupert Murdoch via Shutterstock

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Capitol Police Issue Warning Over Possible Trump Protests ‘Across the Country’

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The U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms on Friday jointly issued a statement warning they “anticipate” Trump protests across the country. The statement is not time-specific, and it states it has no information on “credible threats,” but some Democratic offices are allowing staffers to work from home Friday and Tuesday.

“The Sergeant at Arms and United States Capitol Police (USCP) anticipate demonstration activity across the country related to the indictment of former President Trump. While law enforcement is not tracking any specific, credible threats against the Capitol or state offices, there is potential for demonstration activity. USCP is working with law enforcement partners, so you may observe a greater law enforcement presence on Capitol Hill,” the statement reads.

“The SAA and USCP are monitoring the potential nationwide impacts to Senate state offices,” it adds.

The House Sergeant at Arms was conspicuously absent from the statement. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has control over that office.

READ MORE: Trump Trial Could Go Well Into the 2024 Election – Or Possibly Even Past It: Former Prosecutor

Additionally, Axios is reporting, “several House Democrats are allowing staffers to work from home as a safety precaution,” noting that “the memory of Trump supporters ransacking the Capitol on Jan. 6 is still fresh on the mind.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) is allowing staff to work from home for safety reasons. She told Axios, “I don’t ever want to see a Jan. 6 again.”

“I’ve been in the Trump hate tunnel, Donald Trump has gone after me, and quite frankly I don’t have security. I don’t have entourages.”

She’s not the only Democrat to raise concerns.

“Much of the language from the former President and his devotees is similar to what inspired Jan. 6th,” U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips said. “I’m concerned about safety for my colleagues and my staff.”

READ MORE: ‘Lighting the Match’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasted for Off the Rails Rant Defending Trump

Meanwhile, House Republicans are issuing full-throated support for Trump and calling for protests.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who was called out by name in a six-page letter Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan Friday morning, announced she will be in New York on Tuesday to support Trump when he is arraigned. She has posted several tweets since Trump was indicted.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy issued a statement Thursday seemingly designed to gin up rage and action in the MAGA base.

“Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election. As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump. The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”

 

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr and a CC license

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Trump Trial Could Go Well Into the 2024 Election – Or Possibly Even Past It: Former Prosecutor

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Donald Trump, and all of America, could spend the next 18 months – or longer – engrossed in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s trial of the ex-president, and that could bring the trial close to Election Day.

That’s according to a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, Charles Coleman, who is now a civil rights attorney and MSNBC legal analyst.

Asked by MSNBC’s Chris Jansing, “How long typically might a case like this take?” Coleman offered a two-tiered answer.

“A case like this is usually going to take a year or a year and a half,” Coleman said.

That could be through September of 2024.

READ MORE: ‘Lighting the Match’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasted for Off the Rails Rant Defending Trump

“Wow,” a surprised Jansing replied. “So it’s going right up into the campaign.”

“Absolutely,” agreed Coleman. “But it’s important to understand I said a case ‘like this.’ This particular case, I expect may take longer because I am anticipating a number of different legal maneuvers by Donald Trump’s defense team.”

That theoretically means into October of 2024, or longer.

“I do see motions to dismiss at a number of different terms, more likely than not to the point that the judge probably will ultimately end up admonishing them and telling them stop filing motions to dismiss. I think that that’s going to happen,” Coleman explained.

“I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I do believe that we are going to see an attempt to try to change the venue, in this case outside of somewhere in the five boroughs. All of that is going to extend the time deeper and deeper into election season.”

READ MORE: Manhattan DA Unleashes on Jim Jordan With Stern Warning: You May Not ‘Interfere’ With Trump Prosecution

Reuters agrees, reporting Friday morning, “any potential trial is still at minimum more than a year away, legal experts said, raising the possibility that the former U.S. president could face a jury in a Manhattan courtroom during or even after the 2024 presidential campaign, as he seeks a return to the White House.”

And because “Trump’s case is far from typical,” Reuters notes, his trial could extend “past Election Day in November 2024.”

 

 

 

 

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