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What Would Jesus Do?

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How is it possible that so-called “Christian” and “Family” organizations are planning to protest an event that was created to celebrate and affirm the right of all couples to share simple acts of affection – like a kiss?

That’s right. The Religious Right is “warning” people about The Great Nationwide Kiss-In, and telling families to avoid accidentally bumping into Kiss-Ins! God forbid children see same-sex couples actually kiss! Worse, a group called “God Has a Better Way,” sent an email to its followers inviting them to protest, stating, in part,

“We have decided to drop in on this “kiss-in” and declare the good
news, preach repentance and faith, minister to those in need, reach
out to everyone who will hear, shine the light in the midst of
darkness, and worship the Lord together. Can you join us?”

And then there’s The Illinois Family Institute, a “Christian” organization that “is an independent 501c(3) non-profit ministry dedicated to upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois.”  This week they wrote, in “Radical Gay Activists Plan ‘Great Nationwide Kiss-In Events,’

“What we hope is that the public would recover both a proper understanding of the immorality of homosexual acts and the courage to voice that belief, so that public disapproval will be strong enough to persuade homosexuals to voluntarily restrict their kissing to private venues. Many adults do not care to witness obscene and inappropriate kissing, and their children shouldn’t have to.”

Not only that, but in that same piece, The Illinois Family Institute compared same-sex kissing – kissing! – first to NAMBLA, then to incest, then to an orgy.

Here’s what they said,

“An adult kissing a pre-pubescent child or a high school-age adolescent in a sexual or romantic manner is both obscene and inappropriate despite the protestations of the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) to the contrary.

Romantic or sexual kissing between two consenting adults who are in love and who are closely related by blood is both obscene and inappropriate despite the protestations of defenders of incest to the contrary.

Romantic or sexual kissing among “multi-partner” unions, like those profiled in a recent Newsweek article, are both obscene and inappropriate despite the protests of polyamorists to the contrary.

Romantic or sexual kissing between two people of the same biological sex is both obscene and inappropriate despite the voluble, vigorous, and often vitriolic protests of homosexuals to the contrary.”

The Great Nationwide Kiss-In has been an incredible success. On Saturday, at exactly 2:00 PM EDT, The Great Nationwide Kiss-In will take place in 50 cities, across 31 states and territories, plus Canada. Thousands of people – gay, straight, bisexual, and transgender – will show up at parks, city halls, and other public spaces, and kiss the one they love.

When we started The Great Nationwide Kiss-In, just four weeks ago, it was just an idea to have couples – gay and straight – gather in public and share a kiss with their loved one, to demonstrate that ALL people have the right to kiss the one they love, without fear of intimidation or incarceration. Because, as you know by now, same-sex couples have been harassed, detained, and even arrested, after kissing in public. And that is unacceptable.

Together with my friends Wilow Witte, the co-founder of Join The Impact, and fellow writer David Mailloux, of DYM-SUM.com, we crafted an event that specifically was designed to be a celebration, not a protest. And we made the conscious decision to NOT hold any of these Kiss-Ins near any house of worship, and especially to avoid Christian churches and Mormon temples, despite the fact that one recent event – in which all charges were dropped -  involved the Mormon church pressing charges against a same-sex couple who was arrested after kissing on their property.

I have asked the more than four thousand people who signed up to participate in The Great Nationwide Kiss-In to turn the other cheek. I have asked everyone to ignore anyone who feels it is their religious obligation to protest an event that was created to help remind people that everyone has the right to demonstrate simple affection for their loved one.

There are people of faith and religious groups who support the rights of gay men and lesbians to form honest, legal, and loving families. I hope that these other so-called “Christian” groups, those that are so mired in hate and fear, those who choose to waste their time protesting simple acts of love, rather than ministering to those truly in need, I ask them to look inward, and upward, and ask, “What would Jesus do?”

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News

Blanche Suggests Trump Played Role in FBI Investigation of Georgia Elections Office

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested on Friday that President Donald Trump had a role in the FBI’s investigation that led to the execution of a search warrant on a Georgia elections office, where ballots from the 2020 election reportedly were seized.

For years, President Trump has claimed that the 2020 presidential election he lost had been stolen, despite dozens of court cases that failed to prove so.

At a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters, Blanche suggested the president played a role in the investigation that led to the FBI raid, according to Politico.

“Blanche suggested that the probe was related to ‘election integrity’ and that President Donald Trump had a role in it,” Politico reported. Blanche also appeared to confirm the raid was in connection with a criminal investigation.

READ MORE: CNN’s Tapper Flags ‘Killed’ Trump-Related Link in Epstein Dump — Access Restored Fast

“It should be no surprise to many in this room, or anybody watching, that election integrity is extraordinarily important to this administration, always has been and always will be,” Blanche told reporters.

“And so the fact that President Trump and this administration are investigating to make sure that … we are investigating issues around elections to make sure that we do have completely fair and appropriate elections should not be surprising, but I can’t comment on any criminal investigations.”

The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush, during the press conference, posted to social media, “When asked about FBI’s seizure of voter records in Atlanta — Todd Blanche just said that Trump himself ‘is investigating’ voter fraud.”

In modern presidential administrations it would be unusual for a president to play a role in a specific Department of Justice criminal investigation, so as to avoid the appearance of political interference.

READ MORE: ‘We Did Not Protect President Trump’ DOJ Says Upon Releasing Millions More Epstein Files

 

Image via Reuters

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CNN’s Tapper Flags ‘Killed’ Trump-Related Link in Epstein Dump — Access Restored Fast

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Access to a document originally released as part of Friday’s Epstein files document dump that included language related to accusations against President Donald Trump and others allegedly had been removed, according to Jake Tapper. In just under an hour access was restored after the CNN anchor’s social media post.

The page Tapper linked to had read: “We are sorry, the page you’re looking for can’t be found on the Department of Justice website.”

“DOJ has since killed this link,” Tapper wrote. “This is what was there.”

Access was restored about 48 minutes later, according to Tapper’s posts.

According to the screenshot the CNN journalist posted on social media, the document included complaint summaries alleging minors engaging in sexual acts with Trump and others. The complaints are allegations and not proof or evidence of wrongdoing. Donald Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Part of one accusation alleged, “Caller named other individuals involved in ‘big orgy parties’ with her, other young girls, and older Victoria’s Secret models, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.”

“Online complainant reported she was a victim and witness to a sex trafficking ring at the Trump Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. CA between 1995- 1996,” that same allegation continued. “Complainant reported Ghislaine Maxwell as the madam and broker for sex parties, clients of whom included Epstein, Robin Leach, and Donald Trump.”

The screenshot stated that the “Response” to those complaints was that “Complainant was spoken to and deemed not credible.”

Other complaints in the screenshotted document read: “One of complainant’s ex-girlfriend’s daughters told complainant Trump raped her, as did Epstein.”

The screenshot of the document included multiple allegations that are graphic and include references to rape and murder.

Image via Reuters 

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‘We Did Not Protect President Trump’ DOJ Says Upon Releasing Millions More Epstein Files

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More than forty days after federal law required the release of the Epstein files, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it will post about three million additional documents from its trove on Friday.

In addition to the documents, 2,000 videos and about 180,000 images will also be released, according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who “said the files included images taken by Epstein and others that were on his devices but he didn’t take,” NBC News reported.

“Blanche said that the public should not find within the files the names of any men who abused women in connection with Epstein,” NBC added. “His comments affirm an unsigned statement from the DOJ and the FBI last year that sparked an avalanche of criticism and calls for more transparency.”

When asked by reporters if he had updated the White House on the release of the files, Blanche said, “My team has certain communications with the White House — let me just be clear, they had nothing to do with this review. They had no oversight with this review, they did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what not to redact. They absolutely knew that I was doing this press conference today and I was releasing the materials today.”

Blanche insisted there was no “oversight by the White House” in the process.

Asked if the DOJ is releasing all documents related to President Donald Trump from the files, Blanche told reporters, “I can assure that we complied with the statute.”

“We complied with the act,” he said, “We did not protect President Trump.”

“We didn’t protect or not protect anybody,” he added, while declaring that “that there’s a hunger, a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents.”

Blanche insisted that President Trump has had the “same consistent message about Jeffrey Epstein.” He also insisted that “there’s not been a change, of course, or anything, and certainly his direction to … the Department of Justice was to release the files, be as transparent as we can.”

 

Image via Reuters

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