Month: April 2022
Teachers in Florida are Hilariously Sabotaging the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows ideas to overturn election before it was called
Shocking intercepted audio reveals talk between Russian soldiers
Canadian Billionaire To Pay Record Fine For Steering Illegal Donations To Trump, Lobbied Trump On Tariffs
The New York Times reports:
A Canadian steel industry billionaire illegally helped steer $1.75 million in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC and has agreed to pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the Federal Election Commission to settle the case, the commission said on Friday.
The $975,000 fine will be paid by entities controlled by Barry Zekelman, a steel industry executive from Ontario who had lobbied the Trump administration to use its power to tighten import restrictions on Mr. Zekelman’s competitors from around the world.
Mr. Zekelman’s donations in 2018 to the America First Action super PAC helped him secure an invitation to a private dinner with President Donald J. Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Mr. Zekelman personally pushed Mr. Trump about the steel tariffs and other matters.
Read the full article.
Trump-Backed House Candidate Tells Steve Bannon Being Gay Is a Choice: ‘They Can Actually Change’
Republican candidate Vernon Jones of Georgia said Friday that Black people are more disadvantaged than gay people because, he said, being gay is a choice.
On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast Friday, the congressional candidate stated he believes being gay is voluntary.
“Civil rights and gay rights, let me tell you, civil rights for Blacks, and gay rights for gays, are two different things,” Jones told Bannon.
Bannon chimed in, “They say it’s the same thing,” to which Jones disagreed.
“But it’s not he same thing,” he said. “I don’t know what you are unless you tell me what you are, if you’re gay. But when I walk in that room, you can tell that I’m Black. I’m Black from cradle to grave, let’s not get that confused.”
“They can actually change,” Jones added. “You can go from being straight, to being gay, to being transgender and all these other genders. But when you Black, I don’t have a choice.”
He concluded, “When did gays come over in ships?”
Jones made a name for himself nationally after he endorsed former President Donald Trump as a Democrat from Dekalb County ahead of the 2020 election. Trump endorsed Jones in the race earlier this year.
The Democrat-turned-Republican represents Georgia’s 91st district in the statehouse and is known for making headline-grabbing statements. Two months ago, Jones claimed he was simultaneously running campaigns for the U.S. House and for governor.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing election records, reported Jones used a Democratic ballot in the 2020 primary after expressing public support for Trump.
U.S. Indicts ‘God’s Oligarch,’ World Congress of Families Funder Konstantin Malofeev
Konstantin Malofeev (Photo: Lous Whinston, Creative Commons license, https://www.flickr.com/photos/193515557@N06/51320783817)
The U.S. Justice Department this week indicted Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, a close ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, friend of U.S. religious-right culture warriors, and funder of the World Congress of Families, a network of organizations that mobilizes opposition to reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, feminism, and “gender ideology” in the name of the “natural family” across the world. Malofeev has been charged with violating U.S. sanctions. (The indictment, like some news outlets, spells his name Malofeyev.)
Malofeev is known as “God’s Oligarch” for his devotion to the Russian Orthodox Church, which currently functions as an ally and enabler of Putin. Malofeev shares Putin’s imperial vision; he hopes to bring back the monarchical reign of the tsars, potentially starting with Putin. John “Jack” Hanick, an American and former Fox News employee hired by Malofeev to build a new Orthodox television network modeled on Fox, was indicted last month.
Malofeev attended the World Congress of Families’ 2013 global summit, where he declared, “Christian Russia can help liberate the West from the new liberal anti-Christian totalitarianism of political correctness, gender ideology, mass-media censorship, and neo-Marxist dogma.” That message was embraced and amplified by U.S. religious-right leaders who opposed the Obama administration’s advocacy for LGBTQ human rights. They adored Putin’s Christian nationalism and anti-LGBTQ policies and mostly ignored his attacks on dissent and religious freedom. Right Wing Watch has reported in depth on U.S. religious-right leaders’ long love affair with Putin.
In 2013, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown traveled to Moscow to express support for anti-LGBTQ policies being considered by the country’s legislature, and to take part in a roundtable discussion on “Traditional Values: The Future of the European Peoples,” hosted by Malofeev’s St. Basil the Great Foundation.
When WCF’s parent organization rebranded as the International Organization for the Family with Brown at the helm, Malofeev associate Alexey Komov traveled to South Africa to participate in the launch event. Komov has been WCF’s representative in Russia helped organize a 2014 event in Moscow that was planned as a WCF summit; after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea and resulting sanctions, official WCF sponsorship was dropped, but the event went forward essentially as planned, and WCF leaders took part, supposedly in their personal capacities.
Gov. Kay Ivey signs ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ anti-LGBT bathroom bills into law
Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday signed a pair of controversial anti-LGBT bills into law, a day after the state Legislature passed the legislation along party lines on the last day of the legislative session.
Ivey signed SB184, or the Alabama Vulnerable Child Protection Act, which criminalizes gender-affirming surgeries for trans youth.
“There are very real challenges facing our young people, especially with today’s societal pressures and modern culture. I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl,” the governor said in a statement after signing both bills. “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life. Instead, let us all focus on helping them to properly develop into the adults God intended them to be.”
The governor also signed HB322, dubbed by opponents as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, because an amendment is modeled after Florida legislation banning the teaching of “divisive concepts” in schools.
The bill also only allows people in schools to use the bathroom of the gender listed on their birth certificate.
“Here in Alabama, men use the men’s room, and ladies use the ladies’ room – it’s really a no brainer,” Ivey said. “This bill will also ensure our elementary school classrooms remain free from any kind of sex talk. Let me be clear to the media and opponents who like to incorrectly dub this the “Don’t Say Gay” amendment: That is misleading, false and just plain wrong. We don’t need to be teaching young children about sex. We are talking about five-year-olds for crying out loud. We need to focus on what matters – core instruction like reading and math.”
On the final day of the legislative session, Alabama lawmakers added their own version of the “Don’t Say Gay” to a bill already written to target the state’s LGBT population.
Ron DeSantis Predicts “Cold War” Between Florida And Georgia If Stacey Abrams Is Elected Georgia Governor
The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida would face a “Cold War” with Georgia if Democrat Stacey Abrams were to become Georgia’s next governor.
“If Stacey Abrams is elected governor of Georgia, I just want to be honest, that will be a Cold War between Florida and Georgia at that point,” DeSantis, a Republican, told an enthusiastic crowd Friday. “I mean, I can’t have Castro to my south and Abrams to my north. That’d be a disaster.”
A spokeswoman for DeSantis’ office told Newsweek that DeSantis was trying to demonstrate the difference between DeSantis’ governing style in Florida, and how Abrams may govern Georgia.
Read the full article.
The president of Cuba is Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Tucker Carlson: Why Aren’t Men “Thrashing” Teachers?
Media Matters has the transcript:
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): I don’t understand where the men are. Like where are the dads? You know, some teacher’s pushing sex values on your third grader why don’t you go in and thrash the teacher? Like this is an agent of the government pushing someone else’s values on your kid about sex, like where’s the pushback?
The Daily Beast reports:
Carlson has made comments like this before. Last month, while defending Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill—which is now law—the Fox News host said that teachers who discuss gender identity with students “should be arrested” and “beaten up.”
The legislation’s passage came as many on the right have charged, deceptively, that it’s necessary to prevent “grooming” kids.
In response to Carlson, Vance criticized the “crazy lunatics” he deems responsible for the hypothetical scenario the Fox News host described. “I mean I agree with you [that] there should be a ton of pushback. I’m the father of three young kids and I would get enraged if I found out this was happening at my kids’ school,” Vance said.
https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3986879/embed/embed
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