Kill The Gays Bill: Uganda Expert Calls Out Journalists For False Reports Of Death Penalty Removal
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One of America’s top experts on Uganda‘s “Kill The Gays” bill, Box Turtle Bulletin‘s editor, Jim Burroway, is now calling out journalists by name for repeated false claims that Uganda has removed the death penalty from its infamous and draconian Anti-Homosexuality bill.
Since 2009, Ugandan Member of Parliament (MP) David Bahati, has been the face of the anti-gay legislation, and has used it as a vehicle to further his political career. Now, Rebecca Kadaga, Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, who is rumored to have a desire for the presidency of Uganda, is following in his footsteps, promising the Kill The Gays bill will pass before Christmas as a “Christmas gift” to Uganda’s Christians.
Almost every year since the “Bahati bill” was taken up in Parliament, the press has been told the death penalty has been dropped. And the mainstream media and many blogs have taken the word of politicians as fact, without any investigation or request of proof, offering the false claims as fact.
Today is the perfect example:
Uganda’s anti-gay bill won’t contain death penalty
By By [sic] RODNEY MUHUMUZA, Associated PressKAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The Ugandan lawmaker who originally authored an anti-gay bill proposing death for some homosexual acts said Friday that a new version of the proposed legislation doesn’t contain the death penalty.
Parliamentarian David Bahati said the bill, which is expected to be voted on next month, had “moved away from the death penalty after considering all the issues that have been raised.”
“There is no death penalty,” he told The Associated Press.
First, as a source at the State Department noted to the Washington Blade, the bill cannot be changed in committee, so the death penalty cannot have been removed.
Second, why has almost every major media outlet never questioned their own previous reporting, when they “report” that the death penalty has been removed — again? Why do they never question when it was put back in, in order for it to be removed again? And again, and again?
This is plain and simple laziness, and the mainstream media outlets like the ones Jim Burroway names today — we’ll excerpt a few below — deserve to be lambasted for falsely reporting what is in reality a life or death situation. Frankly, to my memory, the BBC and the AP are the worst violators, and their readers should sue them for journalistic malpractice.
At least in America, the press — the only industry mentioned in the constitution — is given great legal leeway, in order to be able to report the truth. When they fail at that endeavor, they deserve the utmost enmity from their readers. When it’s the corporate multi-million dollar media — who this year were given a financial windfall with all the political ads they sold — they deserve to have to pay for their poor judgment.
Meanwhile, Burroway today writes:
And because its the AP, the lie that has been heard at least fifteen times around the world over the past three years is embarking on yet another world tour, first in the New York Times, Washington Post and Fox, and from there to local news outlets. LGBT outlets and blogs — all of which have no excuse for not knowing better — are picking it up, including Queerty and Pink News. Even Huffington Post has jumped on board to turn its erstwhile progressive pages over to Bahati’s publicist.
Burroway adds:
What short memory spans everyone has. It was just last week when the BBC  – per its usual jumping-the-gun instinct – announced that the decision to drop the death penalty was a done deal. In case you’re counting, that’s at least the third time the BBC announced the death penalty’s demise, and its third announcement proved just as wrong as the earlier two. So when an unnamed source at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala confirmed to the Washington Blade that:
…the committee can only compile a report on the bill for recommendations to the bill, and can’t make changes to it. That means the panel can’t take out the death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality,†which media sources reported was removed.
… — which is what we’ve been saying – Queerty was over there wondering how the death penalty ever got “put back in.â€
But as we’ve said repeatedly, it has never been removed. And we will never tell you that it has been removed until and unless, you know, it has been removed – which has never happened in the bill’s entire three year history. Although the bill’s supporters have done their best to try to convince you otherwise.
Read Burroway’s post today, “AP Is Wrong: Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill Still Has The Death Penalty,” for a lot more on this shameful event in journalism, and for more on what’s actually going on with Uganda’s Kill The Gays bill.
Burroway, for the record, is no fly-by-night blogger. He was honored this summer with honored with a National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association Award for “Excellence in Online Journalism,” and his work has appeared on CNN, and in The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and has been quoted by likely every LGBT news site and major blog.
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Related:
Fischer: ‘There Is No Kill The Gays Bill In Uganda — Doesn’t Exist’
Ugandan Activists: Kill The Gays Bill Still Contains Death Penalty
On Uganda, HRC Attacks Tony Perkins, Ties Osteen And Warren To Lawmakers
US Official’s Comments Suggest Death Penalty Not Removed From Uganda Kill The Gays Bill
Human Rights Group Asks Obama To Help Stop Uganda’s Kill The Gays Bill
US State Dept Cautions Uganda To ‘Look Very Carefully’ At Kill The Gays Bill
Tony Perkins: Uganda President ‘Leading His Nation’ With ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill
Scott Lively: Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill’s Expected Passage A ‘Huge Blessing’
American Family Association Leader Praises Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Law
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Last year in January, in the wake of a study that found 650,000 children have developed asthma because of gas stoves, Bloomberg News reported: “US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears.”
There was no ban in the works or on the way, and the chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was forced to issue a statement promising, “I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.”
Republicans however, went on the attack, with some, like U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a physician, shouting on social media, “I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”
Congressman Jackson soon doubled-down, appearing on Newsmax.
187 MILLION Americans have gas stoves in their homes, and it will cost a FORTUNE to replace them. There’s no “science” behind this. It’s just another excuse Biden is trying to use to put MORE GOVERNMENT in your lives. HANDS OFF OUR STOVES!!https://t.co/2DQMkP2ZIy pic.twitter.com/xPxM5KwbKa
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 11, 2023
One month later, West Virginia Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin teamed up with several Republicans to protect Americans’ “right” to non-electric cooking.
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“Gas stoves have been in the news lately and I’ve come out strongly against the Consumer Product Safety Commission pursuing any ban of gas stoves,” Manchin declared, despite there being no possibility of that. “In fact, I’m introducing legislation today with Senator [Ted] Cruz that would ensure that they don’t and separately sending a letter to the commission with Senator [James] Lankford.”
For decades the scientific community has known about the health dangers of gas stoves, but Americans love them and there are no plans to have any federal government agency coming to take them away.
The Biden administration would like to help Americans buy new, energy-saving home appliances, but Republicans oppose those efforts as well.
Nearly sixteen months later, Republicans are still working to protect Americans from what some have suggested will be the federal government knocking on the doors of U.S. citizens to take away their gas stoves.
Last month, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson was all set to revive the House’s focus on ensuring Americans can continue to grill baby grill – indoors – childhood asthma-be-damned, and nearly put HR 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, and several others on the floor for votes, including:
The “Liberty in Laundry Act” (HR 7673), the “Clothes Dryers Reliability Act (HR 7645), the “Refrigerator Freedom Act” (HR 7637), the “Affordable Air Conditioning Act” (HR 7626), and the “Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act” (HR 7700).
But at the last minute he changed the schedule after aid to Ukraine and Israel became the national focus.
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MSNBC’s Steve Benen reports Monday, “the ‘Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act’ … will likely reach the floor this week, possibly as early as tomorrow.”
One year ago this month, U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) delivered amusing remarks during a House hearing.
“I want to apologize on behalf of the Democratic Party that we have decided to put kids’ safety, in their neighborhoods from getting gunned down, in movie theaters, or grocery stores, or school churches, or synagogues – we as Democrats have clearly lost our way that we are not focused on appliances,” Moskowitz said sarcastically in a viral video.
Now he’s back, along with the House Republicans’ renewed focus on the false fear-mongering the federal government is coming for your home appliances, or is going to ban them.
In response to Axios’ Andrew Solender reporting, “Appliance Week is BACK in the House!” Congressman Moskowitz replied, “Israel aid, Ukraine aid, Humanitarian aid, Kitchenaid.”
He then grew even more sarcastically excited:
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) May 6, 2024
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem continues to make media appearances promoting her new book, which has received massive attention for the story about her shooting to death her 14-month old dog, Cricket, and a goat, and her reportedly false claim she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
But in discussing that apparent lie that appears in her book, Noem appeared to tell a few more – and seemed to suggest she may have actually met with Kim Jong Un but should not have put that meeting in her memoir. Experts have said it’s unlikely she did meet with him.
“The book is called, ‘No Going Back,’ but it sounds like the publisher, Center Street, is going back on a couple of the details in the book,” CBS Mornings told Noem.
“Well, I don’t believe so,” Noem replied.
After hearing the apparently false details of her alleged meeting with Kim Jong Un being read on-air straight from her book, Noem explained, “when I became aware of that we changed the content, and the future editions will be adjusted.”
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Noem also said she’s “met with many, many world leaders, I’ve traveled around the world. I should not have put that anecdote in the book, and at my request they have removed it.”
She was then asked, “That specifically didn’t happen?” but Noem appeared to brush off the question.
“What I’m saying is I’m not talking about that meeting, I’m not talking about my meetings with world leaders, there are some that are in the book and there’s some that are not in the book.”
Asked, “Did you tell your ghost writer to write that?” Noem refused to answer the question.
“I specifically have worked on policy for over 30 years, and over that time I have traveled around the world and met with leaders around the world. And that anecdote, I’ve asked them to change the content, and it will be removed.”
“It’s a simple question, did you or did you not meet with Kim Jong Un?”
“That’s the answer that I have for you,” Noem replied.
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She also did not tell CBS why she chose to put it in the book at all, if she knew it was false.
Noem does not mention that she recorded the audio book version for “No Going Back,” and would have read those words about meeting with the North Korean dictator aloud, yet apparently did not ask her publisher to remove it until a local newspaper, The Dakota Scout, published a report starting her account of the event was “in doubt.”
On Sunday, Noem first began to suggest the meeting might have taken place. Speaking with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Axios reported, “Noem declined to talk about specific meetings she had with various world leaders, and never outright said she didn’t meet with Kim during the interview.”
A CBS News transcript of that interview shows “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan saying, “you released video of your recording of the audio book. you didn’t catch these errors when you were recording it?”
“Well, Margaret, as soon as it was brought to my attention, I took action to make sure that it was reflected,” Noem responded, before leaping into an attack on the media.
Also on Sunday, The Independent reported, “North Korea experts say it’s highly unlikely Ms Noem ever met the North Korean leader.”
“From 2011 to 2018, Mr Kim did not leave North Korea, according to University of Notre Dame professor and North Korea expert George Lopez.” The Independent added, “Benjamin Young, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on North Korea, told The Dakota Scout that Ms Noem’s account of meeting Kim was ‘dubious.'”
“I cover North Korea very closely, and I have never heard of Kim Jong Un meeting congressmen or congresswomen,” Young said.
Watch Noem’s full CBS interview from Monday below or at this link.
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New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled on the tenth allegation of Donald Trump violating his gag order, finding the ex-president in criminal contempt of court and warning the presumptive Republican nominee for president directly that he may put him jail if he again violates the gag order.
“Mr Trump, as you know, the prosecution has filed three separate motions to find you in criminal contempt. It appears that the $1,000 fines are not a deterrent,” Judge Merchan told the defendant Monday morning, as The Guardian reports. Merchan, who is overseeing the Trump criminal trial commonly called the “hush money case” also said, “I have a job to do and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system.”
“Mr. Trump, last thing I want to do is put you in jail, you are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well,” Merchan told Trump directly, ABC News reported.
“Defendant violated the order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected,” Merchan’s five-page ruling reads. “In doing so, Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.”
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MSNBC legal Analyst Danny Cevallos on-air reported he believes Justice Merchan may give Trump one more chance if he violates the gag order but that could be it before ordering him to jail.
“The judge is saying that this is absolutely on the table and that jail could happen and in fact, I think that might justify him doing it sooner rather than later. I mean, maybe one more chance,” Cevallos said.
But former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harry Litman took Justice Merchan’s warning to be a more immediate threat: “So there it is — next time –> jail. The final warning. It’s in Trump’s hands now,” he wrote on social media.
CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen appeared to agree with Litman, writing that Trump “was told for violation #11 he’s going to jail.”
“In response to jail warning,” Eisen adds, “Trump gives Judge the absolute laser glare–if looks could kill…”
And former FBI Asst. Director Frank Figliuzzi adds, “I expect the next violation will put Trump in the lock up. He knows that. So if Trump violates again, consider that he views jail as helpful.”
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Some legal experts felt Justice Merchan should have imposed a jail sentence for his criminal contempt of court finding.
NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner wrote, “yes, it IS way past his jail time.”
See a copy of the final page of Justice Merchan’s ruling below or at this link.
Justice Merchan to Trump:
“Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration.”
Read the latest contempt order here https://t.co/r7jNddBlhH pic.twitter.com/VtVIynfD1M
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) May 6, 2024
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