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NOM: Same-Sex Unions Pose Greater Risk Of Child Abuse

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U.S. Government Study: Majority Of Abused Children Maltreated By Their Biological Parents — Not By Same-Sex Couples

In his weekly blog, National Organization For Marriage Executive Director Brian Brown, obviously smarting from his side’s embarrassing performance in the Perry vs. Schwarzenegger federal Prop 8 trial, decided to cross a line no one should ever even think of crossing. A line that the Perry trial demonstrated over and over again the right has crossed for decades: the false statement that gays are child abusers.

Brian Brown, I hereby call you out on this disgusting lie. Fortunately, I trust the intelligence of Americans enough to know they know a charlatan when they read his words.

Here’s the link to Brian’s blog. Read it for yourself. And read between the lines. Read how Brian talks about “how family structure affects child abuse.” See how he introduces the idea of child abuse and then says,

“What family form best protects children from one of the worst harms of all–child abuse? The answer is: the child’s own mom and dad united by marriage.”

Nice job there, Brian. (By the way, Brian, you got the name of the study wrong. I know because I read it. It’s “The Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4)” But hey, no one’s perfect.)

Notice, too that Brian doesn’t provide his followers with a link to the government’s study — afraid they’ll read it and realize he’s not telling them the whole truth.

Most importantly, let me say this: Shame on you, Brian!

Not only do you trumpet your thinly-veiled hatred against gay and lesbian parents, you raise your sword on hard-working single parents and cohabiting unmarried parents. What you do NOT bother to address is the very sad fact that so many American children are abused and neglected! Rather than use your vast resources to say to your followers, “We must do a better job, for the sake of our children,” (much less, “here’s how,”) you say, “Look, gay parents are bad, they are child abusers!” Obviously, you don’t care about the children. You merely twist their plight into a fund-raising letter.

Your hatred of the LGBTQ community has blinded you to the real problem: everyday, children are being abused and neglected. And your hatred of the LGBTQ community has blinded you to the reality of that problem: it is these abused and neglected children’s biological parents who are doing the vast majority of the abusing and neglecting.

Yes, that’s right, Brian. You left that part out of your weekly fund-raising blog. Because telling your followers that they are the ones more likely to abuse and neglect their own children doesn’t rake in the cash, does it?

Well, Brian, let’s look at the real facts from the very government study you cite. The study looks at maltreatment with two different standards. Under the more stringent standard, it found that one in every 58 children in the United States is physically and/or emotionally abused and/or neglected. That’s about 1.7% of all children in the U.S., or, according to the study, “an estimated 1,256,600 children.” Under the less-stringent standard, that number jumps to almost three million children.

Three million children, Brian. Where is your outrage?

Under the more stringent and detailed standard, the study found:

  • “The majority of all [abused or neglected] children … were maltreated by their biological parents.” In fact, the study says that “92% were neglected by biological parents” and “64% were abused by biological parents.”
  • “Biological parents were the most closely related perpetrators for 71% of physically abused children and for 73% of emotionally abused children.”

Bottom line: Of children who are “maltreated” — abused and/or neglected, it is those children’s own biological parents who are the perpetrators.

The study also stated there was a 26% decline in the rate of maltreated children — children who were physically and/or emotionally abused and/or neglected. Just as we have seen the rate of divorce decrease in states when same-sex couples are granted the right to legally marry, one has to wonder if the vast increase in same-sex couples raising children has something to do with that 26% decline in the rate of maltreated children?

What is also significant is that nowhere does the study mention same-sex married couples. Nowhere. Nor does it draw any conclusion about same-sex married couples. It also does not have a category for same-sex married or “civil-unioned” couples. Nor does it have a category or make any mention of homosexual unmarried couples, nor draw any distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex unmarried couples.

In short, Brian, your argument doesn’t hold water.

In no way, shape, or form does the study suggest same-sex married or un-married couples are child abusers or pose any increased threat to children. Yet you see fit to continue those disgusting lies.

Who is the real villain here, Brian? Gay and lesbian couples who have to fight tooth and nail, and invest countless thousands of dollars to adopt, so they can give children a good home, or some over-paid “executive” who makes his living by spewing hatred, fear, and lies — and all under the guise of “religion?”

Brian, we are watching your words. Every one of them. And you can expect, certainly from me, to be confronted with the truth –  and called out, publicly — whenever you dare to cross that line.

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News

‘This Isn’t Justice’: Legal Experts Blast Cannon for Postponing Trump Case Indefinitely

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May 7, 2024

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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon late Tuesday afternoon issued an indefinite postponement of the court date in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Donald Trump on Espionage Act charges, in the indictment commonly referred to as the classified documents case.

Claiming it would be “imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court,” along with other matters, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote: “the Court finds that the ends of justice served by this continuance…outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial.”

Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports, “It may be months before we know the new schedule.” Trial had been slated to begin May 20.

“With 13 days before her trial was supposed to kick off, Judge Cannon finally says what has been obvious to every legal journalist I know: She’s not just canceling the existing trial date; she’s also not picking a replacement,” MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin reports.

READ MORE: Johnson Demands All Trump Prosecutions Cease, Vows to Use Congress ‘In Every Possible Way’

The 37 count indictment was brought after Trump removed well over 1000 items, including hundreds of classified documents, out of the White House, retained then refused to return them, allegedly violating several statutes under the Espionage Act.

“Trump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive U.S. nuclear program and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack,” according t0 the federal indictment, Reuters reported last year.

The trial now is not expected to conclude before the November presidential election this year.

“This is news but it’s hardly unexpected,” declared professor of law, former U.S. Attorney, and MSNBC contributor Joyce Vance wrote. “Judge Cannon seems desperate to avoid trying this case. This isn’t justice. defendants aren’t the only ones with speedy trial act rights, we the people have them too.”

“After the election,” professor of law and former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter commented, “if Trump wins Jack Smith gets fired, the case gets dismissed, and Judge Cannon is ready for SCOTUS.”

READ MORE: Trump Threatens to Violate Gag Order and Go to Jail: ‘I’ll Do That Sacrifice Any Day’

Attorney and author Luppe B. Luppen noted, “Judge Cannon’s rationale for indefinitely postponing Trump’s classified documents trial is that a large number of pretrial motions remain unresolved—a state of affairs she has literally engineered by failing to resolve them.”

Professor of law and noted election law expert Rick Hasen asked: “Is it too cynical to believe that Judge Cannon timed the announcement of the postponement of a Trump classified documents trial to take away from the salacious sex details from Stormy Daniels’ testimony today?”

National security attorney Brad Moss served up a “silver lining to Cannon not setting a new trial date: she isn’t blocking the DC or Georgia election cases from resuming in the late summer/early fall, pending SCOTUS ruling on immunity.”

Foreign policy, national security, and political affairs analyst David Rothkopf added, “Justice delayed is justice denied. Both the defendant and the public have the right to a trial ‘without unnecessary delay.’ (Sixth Amendment.) When does Jack Smith seek a remedy for the problem Judge Cannon clearly represents? Tick freaking tock.”

READ MORE: Judge Hands Trump ‘Incarceration’ Threat as Experts Say Next Time He’ll Toss Him in Jail

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News

Trump Battled to Go to Son’s Graduation – So Why Is He Speaking at a Fundraiser That Day?

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3 hours ago

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May 7, 2024

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Last month Donald Trump falsely told reporters Justice Juan Merchan had blocked him from attending his youngest son’s high school graduation, refusing to give him the day off from his required attendance at his New York criminal court case.

Justice Merchan had actually told Trump he would take the request under advisement, but Trump quickly ran to reporters painting the judge as heartless.

On April 15 Trump said, “it looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son who’s worked very, very hard and he is a great student.”

“It looks like the judge isn’t going to allow me to escape this scam. It’s a scam trial,” Trump alleged.

The Associated Press reported, “Trump then furthered his criticism of the judge on his Truth Social platform, writing in one post both that he ‘will likely not be allowed to attend’ and that ‘the Judge, Juan Merchan, is preventing me from proudly attending my son’s Graduation.’ He wrote in another post less than two hours later that he is ‘being prohibited from attending.'”

READ MORE: Johnson Demands All Trump Prosecutions Cease, Vows to Use Congress ‘In Every Possible Way’

None of that was accurate.

Last week Judge Merchan granted Trump the day off from court to attend his son’s high school graduation.

But The Lincoln Project and others on Tuesday posted the announcement for “Minnesota’s 2024 Lincoln Reagan Dinner With Special Guest DONALD J. TRUMP” on Friday, May 17, 2024.

Trump, as The New Republic notes, will be the headline speaker at the event in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which starts at 5:00 PM.

The fundraiser offers supporters the opportunity to spend $100,000, which grants them “10 VIP Dinner Seats | 10 VIP Reception Passes | 3 Photo Opportunities with President Trump.”

Or, for example, for $50,000, a supporter can get a “Chairman’s Host Table – 10 VIP Dinner Seats | 10 VIP Reception Passes | 1 Photo Opportunity with President Trump.”

KARE reports “the visit is expected to be the former president’s first trip to Minnesota of the 2024 election cycle.”

READ MORE: ‘I’m Not Talking About That Meeting’: Noem Implies She May Have Met With Kim Jong Un

Trump has strong motivation to head to Minnesota.

Over the weekend, as NBC News reports, “Top officials for former President Donald Trump’s campaign believe they can flip Democratic strongholds Minnesota and Virginia into his column in November, they told donors behind closed doors at a Republican National Committee retreat Saturday.”

Barron Trump’s graduation from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida reportedly will be the same day, May 17. Depending on timing, It’s possible Trump could fly from Florida to Minnesota to get to the fundraiser by 5 PM.

Watch Trump’s remarks from April 15 below or at this link.

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OPINION

Johnson Demands All Trump Prosecutions Cease, Vows to Use Congress ‘In Every Possible Way’

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5 hours ago

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May 7, 2024

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In a clear attack on the executive branch, the judicial system, states’ rights, and the rule in law in America, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson vowed on Tuesday to use all the powers of Congress at his disposal to end all four current criminal prosecutions of ex-president Donald Trump.

Johnson’s remarks late Tuesday morning came at the exact same time Stormy Daniels was giving sworn testimony about her alleged sexual relationship with Trump in a Manhattan Superior Court case. The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee is on trial for 34 felonies related to falsification of business records when he allegedly paid hush money to the adult film star then covered up those payments in what prosecutors say was election interference.

“President Trump has done nothing wrong here and he continues to be the target of endless lawfare,” Speaker Johnson told reporters Tuesday during an official House news conference (video below). “It has to stop. And you’re gonna see the United States Congress address this in every possible way that we can, because we need accountability. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s bigger than President Trump. It’s about the people’s faith in our system of justice. And we’re gonna get down to the bottom of it. All these cases need to be dropped, because they are a threat to our system.”

Johnson’s remarks also come as he faces an ouster threat from far-right MAGA Republican Christian nationalist Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Speaker, who repeatedly has said he speaks to Trump frequently, spent the weekend at the ex-president’s Florida resort and residence, Mar-a-Lago. He also traveled there just weeks ago as Greene’s threats were heating up. Trump and Johnson held a joint press conference on “election integrity,” an image some say was a show of strength and support from the leader of his party.

READ MORE: Trump Threatens to Violate Gag Order and Go to Jail: ‘I’ll Do That Sacrifice Any Day’

Johnson’s job is being protected by Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the vast majority of the Democratic caucus, who have promised to protect him should Greene call up her motion to vacate.

Claiming Republicans are “trying to keep steadying hands on the wheel here and keep the legislative branch moving and operating in the best interest of the people,” Johnson also alleged: “one of the things that is also in jeopardy right now is our judicial branch. And it’s our system of government itself. And I don’t think we can say often enough here how much of that has been abused under this administration, and with local prosecutors, state prosecutors, and at the federal level, who are using lawfare. They’re using our judicial system to go after political opponents.”

The Speaker continued his targeting, declaring Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “case should never have been brought.”

“If there’s ever been an example of lawfare. Everybody can look at that and see, the trial is being orchestrated by Democrats, supporters of President Biden who are trying to make a name for themselves. I mean, they’re they’re pretty open about that. They used it in their campaign flips. We’ve got a Democrat District Attorney, a Biden donor judge, whose daughter is a Democratic political consultant and has clients that use the case in their solicitation emails to raise money.”

Justice Juan Merchan, CNN reported last month, made a $15 donation to the Biden campaign, amid a total of $35 total in 2020.

Johnson also called Justice Merchan “a well known Democrat” who “is pursuing an indefensible gag order on President Trump,” and “trying to override President Trump’s constitutional right to defend himself against the constant smears of his political opponents.”

READ MORE: ‘I’m Not Talking About That Meeting’: Noem Implies She May Have Met With Kim Jong Un

Pointing to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Donald Trump in the Espionage Act case, often called the “classified documents” case, Johnson called it “the weaponization of our justice system.”

He called all the cases against the ex-president “a clear attempt to keep Donald Trump in the courtroom and off the campaign trail. That’s what this is. It’s an election interference. It is borderline criminal conspiracy and the American people see right through it.”

Watch a short clip of Johnson’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Israel Aid, Ukraine Aid, Kitchenaid’: Dem Mocks GOP’s ‘Hands Off Our Appliances’ Week

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