Homophobic former governor of North Carolina has the sads because nobody will hire his bigoted ass.

Courtesy of Slate:  

Pat McCrory was supposed to have another job by now. After voters tossed the former Republican North Carolina governor out of office—thanks in large part to HB2, the deeply unpopular anti-LGBTQ bill he championed—McCrory groveled at Trump Tower, clearly expecting a consolation prize from the new president. But here we are in mid-March, and Donald Trump, who famously dislikes losers, has yet to offer him a role in the new administration.

Bereft of employment, McCrory has slid into the role of professional victim, blaming his humiliating downfall on LGBTQ advocates, corporations, protesters, nonprofits, athletic leagues, transgender children, “silent” conservatives, and pretty much everyone but himself. Recently, he took his tearful tirade to the podcast Listening In, whining to host Warren Cole Smith, who is best known for declaring that Mitt Romney’s Mormonism made him unfit for public office.

During the interview McCrory complained that is problems stem from a pro-LGBTQ group:

The Human Rights Campaign led the public opposition to HB2, criticizing the bill for barring transgender people from certain public bathrooms. In his interview, McCrory repeatedly blamed the HRC for his defeat, asserting that the group is “more powerful than NRA.” 

“I said that nine months ago and everyone laughed,” McCrory confided in Smith, “and now everyone’s going, ‘you know, maybe they are,’ because they put their pressure on corporations. The NRA puts pressure on politicians. The HRC puts public pressure, threatened boycotts on major corporations through the U.S. with a false narrative, and it worked.”

By "false narrative" I think he means the truth about his blatant homophobic tendencies. 

The one thing that I do hope is true is that this Human Rights Campaign is more powerful than the NRA. That just makes me feel good all over.

Almost as good as seeing this pathetic POS getting what's coming to him.

See? Even with all that is going on there is still some good news in the world.

A little more about that troubling meeting between Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard and Donald Trump.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Gabbard, a favorite of incoming White House senior counselor Steve Bannon, is the first congressional Democrat approached to have a face-to-face meeting with Trump—and the first Bernie Sanders supporter to do so as well. Sensing criticism from the left for taking a meeting with Trump, she put out a statement in which she justified her foreign policy meeting as necessary so that the left and right could find “common ground.” 

But she also included pro-Assad apologia in the mix, arguing that the United States should not confront Russia because it could lead to conflict and indicating that the Assad regime should remain in place, calling any attempts to remove him as “illegal.” 

“I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world,” Gabbard said. “It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al Qaeda, and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia which could result in a nuclear war.” 

That might sound like standard issue progressive anti-war rhetoric, but coupled with her past statements and actions, it’s more of a plea to let Assad be. In March, for instance, Gabbard was the only Democrat and one of just three members of Congress to vote against a resolution condemning violence by the Assad regime against civilian populations. 

And she has long been a defender of the Putin regime, writing for example in September 2015, on the first day of the Russian intervention in Syria, “[I]t’s mind-boggling that we protest Russia’s bombing of these terrorists.” Russia is responsible for attacking U.S.-backed opposition forces in Syria, an aid convoy delivering relief to civilians, and medical facilities. 

By taking the meeting with Trump and making such a statement afterward, critics argue, Gabbard is giving the Trump administration the guise of bipartisan support for ignoring Assad’s war crimes, which include bombing civilian populations and the use of chemical weapons. Gabbard and Trump also see eye to eye on closing the door on refugees. 

“For years, both individuals have advocated a free pass for murderous dictators, while intensifying scrutiny on mothers and children sitting in refugee camps who would like to come to the United States,” said Evan Barrett, a political adviser to the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, a Syrian-American opposition umbrella group. “Tulsi is very much a part of the inward-facing mind-set that gave us President-elect Trump, and no one should be surprised when they join hands to appease despots and shut the door to the world’s most desperate people.”

You know I have been concerned about Gabbard ever since she quit her post with the DNC to  endorse Bernie Sanders, and now there is growing evidence to suggest that she may not be the true blue Democrat that she has painted herself to be.

In fact she once responded to criticism of her father's anti-LGBTQ statements with this e-mail: 

“I smell a skunk,” [Gabbard] wrote. “It’s clear to me that you’re acting as a conduit for The Honolulu Weekly and other homosexual extremist supporters of Ed Case.”

That does not sound like something most Democrats would say, now does it?

Oh and the comments from her father that she was defending were these: 

When HONOLULU interviewed Gabbard in 1992, he told the magazine, "Homosexuality is not normal, not healthy, morally and scripturally wrong." At the time, he also suggested that the repeal of sodomy laws across the country in the '60s and the American Psychiatric Association's decision in the '70s that homosexuality was normal and not a mental illness, led directly to the AIDS epidemic of the '80s.

Yeah, I think it is becoming clear what Gabbard's attraction to a Trump administration might be.

And it appears that she is under serious consideration to be included in it as well.

Trump campaign demands an apology after Hillary Clinton refers to their supporters as a "basket of deplorables." Oh, I was just calling them a "flock of assholes." Update!

Courtesy of Politico: 

Donald Trump’s campaign is demanding an apology for comments Hillary Clinton made at a fundraising event in New York City, where she said half of his supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables” -- “the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic -- you name it.“ 

Clinton’s comments came as she urged the crowd of donors not to “get complacent” after seeing “the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment” from Trump and assume, “Well, he's done this time.” 

“You know,” she said, “to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.” 

“Right?” she said as the crowd laughed and applauded. 

“The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic -- you name it,” Clinton continued. “And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people -- now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.” 

Some are referring to this statement as Hillary's 47 percent moment, after the famous comments made by Mitt Romney during the 2012 election, but that is just bullshit. Not to mention wishful thinking on the part of the Trump campaign.

Instead of painting all Republicans with the same broad brush strokes Hillary is trying to cut the non-crazies from the herd and convince them to vote for her, or at the very least NOT vote for Donald Trump.

Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard working people. I think it will cost her at the Polls!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2016

No, it won't.

Let's face it the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic voting block is NEVER going to vote for her no mater what she says or does, so she is simply attempting to draw a bright line between that part of he GOP base, and the part who are simply habitual Republican voters.

And it's working.

So is she going to apologize?

Fuck no!

Update: Well crap she kind of did apologize. Well kinda.

"I won't stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign." —Hillary pic.twitter.com/C3Z7GybJ53

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 10, 2016

Personally I would have let the statements stand, since we all know that most Americans likely to vote for Hillary agree with them 100%.

Update 2: And this is WHY she should not have even KINDA apologized:

Look at these traits of Trump supporters and tell me Hillary didn't underestimate size of the #BasketOfDeplorables pic.twitter.com/A8kMwNSg7G

— Adam Khan (@Khanoisseur) September 10, 2016

Because she's fucking right.

Yeah this will cost her the election just like Obama's "bitter clingers" comment cost him his two elections. 

The Right Wing's new response to transgender folk using the bathroom is to enter them with guns at the ready.

I'm taking a Glock .45 to the ladies room. It identifies as my bodyguard. #BoycottTarget @Target

— Liberty Lawyer (@AnitaStaver) April 22, 2016

Courtesy of the Advocate:  

Anti-LGBT activists are taking the newfound role of “potty police” to the next level, pledging to carry weapons into public restrooms to “protect” against trans people using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. 

The threats came after retailer Target announced Wednesday it would allow transgender patrons to use the restroom of their choice. The policy is a slap at North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2, which, among other things, bars transgender people from using facilities that correspond with their gender identity, if those are in government buildings; it does let private-sector companies set their own policies. In response to Target's action, at least two right-wing leaders promised to meet trans people in the bathroom — with firearms. 

The preliminary warning shot came from Anita Staver, president of the right-wing, anti-LGBT Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit conservative legal group — best known for representing defiant antigay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis — that recently told CBS News it is proudly pushing transphobic “bathroom bills” nationwide. 

 On Friday, Staver — who is married to Liberty Counsel’s chairman and cofounder, Mat Staver — sent out a tweet blasting Target’s trans-inclusive policy. “I’m taking a Glock .45 to the ladies room,” she wrote, before adding what appears to be a dig at the concept that someone could identify as a gender other than that they were assigned at birth.

If you don't think that this will not result in some poor person being shot to death in a public restroom than you certainly have not been paying attention to the news lately.

And what exactly would be the "offense" that earned some poor person the death penalty at the hands of a panicky homophobic gun nut?

Would it be for being too manly in the ladies room? Or too effeminate in the men's room?

Because if that is the case I know several straight non-transgender folks who are going to have to start wearing bullet proof vests before they tinkle in public.

During religious liberty conference attended by Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal, crazy Christian pastor says even crazier things about "teh gays" than the usual crazy things said by crazy Christian pastors.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

 After interviewing both Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal at his "National Religious Liberties Conference" this morning, radical right-wing pastor Kevin Swanson returned to the stage to discuss the issue of how Christians are to live in an increasingly debased and secular society. 

During his remarks, Swanson reiterated his view that both the Old and New Testament require the death penalty for the crime of homosexuality, as well as his position that any Christian who attends a gay wedding can only do so in order to hold up a sign informing the couple that they ought to be put to death. 

He drove home his point with a passionate declaration that if he ever found out that his own sons was gay and that son invited him to his wedding, he would show up covered in "sackcloth and ashes" and then smear himself in cow manure as he sat on the steps of the church and wailed lamentations. 

"Carving happy faces on the sores?" WTF does that even mean?

You know I have spent quite a few years documenting the crazy, but THIS guy is really reaching for new levels.

I mean just listen to his voice and watch his eyes. The guy is all kinds of unhinged.

If I were a serious candidate for the presidency I would not be seen anywhere near a guy spouting nonsense like this.

Which I guess tells you all you need to know about the seriousness of Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal.

Company offers county clerk Kim Davis half a million dollars to appear in an interracial lesbian porn movie. Oh, that's just not right.

Homphobe, county clerk, and potential porn star, Kim Davis.

The company is called Dogfart, and this is their press release courtesy of Death and Taxes: 

With all the controversy surrounding Rowan County, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis’ refusal to issue same sex marriage licenses even after the Supreme Court of the United States made same sex marriage the law of the land, The Dogfart Network which is the leading online destination for Adult Interracial content is offering the Holy Kim Davis a chance at redemption. 

The undisputed kings of interracial porn are dangling $500k to star in a scene for their site ZebraGirls.com, which is one of 23 sites in the companies vast Adult Entertainment Empire. ZebraGirls.com specializes in Lesbian Interracial Erotica. 

“We here at Dogfart have always believed in equality. We have interracial sites, gay sites, straight sites, and we think Kim Davis has been appalling,” said a Dogfart Spokesman. “We are giving her a chance at a redemption. We are willing to drop half a million bucks for Kim to come out to our studio and shoot an Interracial Lesbian scene for our network.” 

The offer will stand for the next week. She is also welcome to bring her family with her on an all expense paid vacation. 

Do you hear that, Kim Davis? Several times your yearly salary to film a sex scene with the single most attractive person you will ever get to see naked, probably. And you can bring the kids! Sounds like a win-win to me.

Okay if I develop erectile dysfunction in the next year or so, this will mark the day that it probably started.

I have little doubt that this is just a joke, because...I mean....but who would.....yeah it's gotta be a joke.

I like the offer to "bring the kids." And they say porn companies are not family friendly.

But still, no.

I'm sorry, I meant to say hell no!

Southern Poverty Law Center labels group representing Kim Davis a hate group. Yeah I get that.

Courtesy of Salon:  

The Liberty Counsel — the group that’s representing Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis — has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Associated Press’ Claire Galofaro reports. 

According to the SPLC, the group and its leader, Mat Staver, have virulently opposed all LGBTQ rights legislation under the aegis of “religious freedom” — it’s even defended Scott Lively, who “played an instrumental part in the Ugandan parliament’s adoption of a draconian anti-LGBT bill that originally included the death penalty in some instances.” 

According to Staver, hate crimes legislation is the equivalent of “‘thought crimes’ laws that violate the right to freedom of speech and of conscience” and “have a chilling effect on people who have moral or religious objections to homosexual behavior.” 

The Liberty Counsel has come under fire for its management of Davis, first after Staver claimed that an image of 100,000 people in Peru were gathered to pray for Davis — they were not, a fact for which Staver blamed a “miscommunication” with Peruvian officials — and later for misrepresenting Davis’ meeting with Pope Francis.

There are some who will accuse the SPLC of going on an ideological witch hunt, and in fact the Liberty Council spokesman is already doing just that.

However in my opinion calling them a hate group is a reasonable assertion, even without the rather long laundry list of reasons given by SPLC.

After all, who BUT a hate group could possibly represent Kim Davis?

Homophobic county clerk Kim Davis met with Pope Francis during his visit to America. Wait, what?

Courtesy of NPR: 

"I never thought I would meet the Pope," Davis said via her legal team. "Who am I to have this rare opportunity? I am just a County Clerk who loves Jesus and desires with all my heart to serve him." 

The meeting is said to have occurred last Thursday, the same day Francis addressed Congress. Davis was in Washington for another purpose: She received a Cost of Discipleship award at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit on Friday night. 

"Just knowing the pope is on track with what we're doing, and agreeing, you know, kind of validates everything," Davis tells ABC News Wednesday morning, speaking about her meeting with Pope Francis and the stand she has taken against same-sex marriage. 

She adds, "I've weighed the cost, and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes."

Asked for comment Vatican spokesmen did not deny that the meeting took place. 

You know all of my warm fuzzies about this Pope just dried right up now.

Either he is dedicated to helping to oppress the LGBT community, or he simply does not understand American law. But either way this is a huge screw up on his part.

And you have to know that this is going to re-energize support for Davis and reinvigorate her desire to be seen as a martyr to the cause of "protecting traditional Biblical marriage."

Kim Davis has a case of the sads because people are claiming that she a "hypocrite of a Christian."

Courtesy of ABC News:

"What people say about me does not define who I am. That’s everybody’s opinion and that’s everybody’s right," Davis told ABC News. 

Davis said she's been "called Hitler, I’ve been called [a] hypocrite, I’ve been called a homophobe." 

(Okay well the Hitler reference is unfair, but the second part.....)

"I’ve been called things and names that I didn’t even say when I was in the world. Those names don’t hurt me," Davis said. "What probably hurt me the worst is when someone tells me that my God does not love me or that my God is not happy with me, that I am a hypocrite of a Christian."

Okay now when Davis says "when I was in the world" what she means by that is that as a born again Christian she is no longer part of the natural world, and is only vapor waiting to be transported to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Which, let's face it, is pretty batshit crazy.

So here is my question.

If you are no longer "of this world" then what in the hell are you doing denying marriage licenses to people who are "of this world?"

If you have the golden ticket to heaven then why not ignore all of the heathens around you and sit in your house all day watching the Trinity Broadcasting Network until you number comes up? 

After all there are people who are actually present in this life, and they would like to enjoy that life without homophobic Fundamentalists fucking things up for them. 

Texas, where they don't just spout anti-gay rhetoric, they amplify it.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Earlier this week, video posted on social media captured part of a sermon about homosexuality at The Door Christian Fellowship Church’s nightly tent revival at Leroy Elmore Park. 

“I still believe that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” the pastor says in the video. “I don’t care who told you it’s okay, God says it’s an abomination.” 

“A fag is still a fag, and a dike is still a dike!” he shouts. “If it walks like a duck and if it quacks like a duck, it’s a cotton-picking duck!” 

“And I can’t stand men saying, ‘I need to get in touch with my feminist side!’ Have you looked in the mirror, brother? Don’t get me going!”

Well gee, he seems nice.

When questioned by the folks at local Texas affiliate KCBD Pastor Anthony Saavedra stood by his hateful rhetoric: 

"We preach on sin in general in the eyes of God," Saavedra said. "Sin is sin. Homosexuality is the part that is being mentioned, which the bible does say is an abomination…and we do believe it is a sin."

Despite complaints the pastor claimed that he would continue shouting his anti-gay invective's into his  microphone for the remainder of the week.

Perhaps an LGBT group could put up a tent directly across from Pastor Homophobe and start yelling into a microphone at the top of their lungs that archaeologists can find NO evidence of the Exodus mentioned in the Bible, that Egyptians had NO Jewish slaves, and that Jesus could NOT have been the Messiah because he was not a direct descendant from King David.

Just a thought.

Mike Huckabee asserts that he will continue to be prejudiced against gays until the Bible is rewritten. Seems unaware that has already happened through translations dozens of times.

Courtesy of TPM:  

On "State of the Union," CNN's Dana Bash asked Huckabee about a chapter in his book, "God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy," in which the former governor wrote about his relationships with gay friends. 

"I don’t shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view. I don’t drink alcohol, but gosh, a lot of my friends — maybe most of them — do. I don’t use profanity, but believe me I’ve got a lot of friends who do. Some people really like classical music and ballet and opera. It’s not my cup of tea." Huckabee said on CNN. "I hope the party doesn’t change its overall view, but the very fact that I talk about relationships I have with friends who are gay, indicate that I’m not a person who shuts everybody out around me who disagrees." 

Huckabee said that for him, same sex marriage is a religious issue. 

"This is not just a political issue. It is a biblical issue. And as a biblical issue, unless I get a new version of the scriptures, it’s really not my place to say, ‘Okay, I’m just going to evolve.’ It’s like asking somebody who’s Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped-shrimp in their deli. ... or asking a Muslim to serve up something that is offensive to him or to have dogs in his backyard," he said. "We’re so sensitive to make sure we don’t offend certain religions, but then we act like Christians can’t have the convictions that they’ve had for over 2,000 years."

Ah the old I have gay/black/female friends so I simply cannot be a homophobe/racist/misogynist argument. I know it well.

Actually the facts are that even without a newly written version of scripture Huckabee seems to have little difficulty ignoring the biblical rules that he doesn't like.

For instance this interview was conducted on a Sunday, the Sabbath. And since this was to promote his new book he was clearly working.

So I guess he simply ignores Leviticus 23:3.

Are his clothes made up of two different kinds of material? Well I guess  Leviticus 19:19 was just a damn suggestion then wasn't it?

And what about Leviticus 20:10? When was the last time that Huckabee stoned an adulterer?

And he calls himself a man of God. Bullshit.

No Huckabee, like many hypocritical Christians, is simply using the Bible to provide cover for his own hateful prejudices.

But hey if he is serious about wanting an updated version of the scriptures, I am ready to start typing at a moment's notice.

I would dearly love to rewrite that horrid, pernicious, tome and replace with one that truly promotes love and acceptance.

Rabid homophobic spokesman for the American Family Association has been fired ahead of RNC trip to Israel that the AFA paid for. Things that make you go "Hmmm." Update!

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:

 Tonight Rachel Maddow broke a huge story: Bryan Fischer, the director of issue analysis, for the American Family Association has been fired. 

The reasons are unclear, as is his future with the organization. Tim Wildmon, American Family Association president, told MSNBC that Fischer is "just a talk show host." 

Fischer has been the main spokesperson for the certified anti-gay hate group for years, daily spinning lies about the LGBT community, including his infamous claims that the Nazis were gay, the Nazi Party was “formed in a gay bar” by “homosexual thugs,” and that "Hitler himself was a homosexual." 

So why today? 

Because on Saturday dozens – close to 100 – members of the Republican National Committee will fly to Israel on a trip sponsored by and paid for by the American Family Association. The same American Family Association that had as its public face and top spokesperson a man who says that the Jewish religion is counterfeit and Jews don't have First Amendment rights.

So the AFA was perfectly fine with Fischer making incredibly outlandish and insane remarks tying homosexuality and Nazis together, and calling the Jewish religion "counterfeit," right up until the press, actually Rachel Maddow mostly, started publicizing the fact that they were paying for an RNC trip to Israel.

Gee I wonder who put pressure on them to fire Fischer? Wait, don't tell me.

By the way if you want to get an idea of just how incredibly insane with his Bryan Fischer truly is, then just take a stroll over to Right Wing Watch. But be warned a few minutes of that crap will make your head explode.

Oh and if you have not seen Rachel's brilliant report last night, do yourself a favor and watch it here.

Update:

Don't believe everything you hear! I'll be on air same time tomorrow as always 1-3pm CT, on http://t.co/sI2xhN0XQd. Tune in!
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) January 29, 2015

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:

And that appears to be true – Bryan Fischer may have lost his meaningless title of director of issue analysis, and his more prominent but still useless title of spokesperson – but he has retained the most important and, more importantly, his most dangerous ability: radio host spewing lies and garbage daily on the American Family Radio network that broadcasts from over 160 radio stations across 40 states, plus online and is archived on Vimeo. 

In other words, Bryan Fischer still has a platform to broadcast hate speech, and is still being paid by the American Family Association to do so. 

So to be clear instead of recognizing that they have a serious public relations problem with Fischer on staff, the AFA just decides to make a few cosmetic changes while continuing to maintain their association with him.

Well that should solve everything don't you think?

North Carolina public school teacher gets five days suspension for denigrating the public school system and suggesting that it turns students gay. Oh yeah, that seems fair.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A parent in North Carolina is upset that a high school biology teacher who compared public education to Nazi death camps and attacked the theory of evolution will be allowed to continue teaching. 

Krista Bennett, a parent of a senior at Fuquay-Varina High School, told the News & Observer that she’s disappointed with the Wake County Public School System’s decision not to fire Ray Fournier over an article he published in a home-schooling magazine. 

In the article, Fournier wrote that the public school system was like “a concentration camp dedicated to the spiritual death of those imprisoned behind these walls.” The biology teacher also complained about the teaching of evolution, claiming it discredited “the reliability of the Bible” and got “rid of God as Creator,” and he said public education could turn straight kids into gay kids. 

The district announced Friday that Fournier would be suspended for five days without pay.

Okay usually I am all for tenure and teachers keeping their jobs unless they engage in criminal behavior or hurt the children in some way, but this guy needs to go.


And why is he even teaching at a public school anyhow?

North Carolina has a number of private religious schools and I am sure any one of them would love to have his homophobic fundamentalist ass.

Owner of tow truck company gets arrested for targeting cars of individuals participating in "Gay Day" events in Orange County.

Courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel:  

The owner of a towing company was arrested Friday and charged with illegally towing vehicles of people who took part in last month's Gay Days events in Orange County. 

Jason P. Combs, 44, owner of ASAP Towing, faces 29 counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle and other charges. Deputies allege he towed more than 100 vehicles June 5 to 9 from a parking lot at Westwood Town Center off International Drive, which is across the street from the event's host hotel, Doubletree by Hilton. Combs didn't have an up-to-date contract to tow vehicles or have proper signage notifying motorists the lot was a tow-away zone, deputies said. 

His attorney, R. David de Armas, said Combs did have a valid contract with the owner and only vehicles that were illegally parked were towed. de Armas also said the fact that it happened during Gay Days was irrelevant. 

But in one instance a victim said he felt he was targeted because of his sexual orientation. 

Cpl. Rick Schmeltzer said the towing company also targeted vehicles the year before during Gay Days activities. During weekends with events other than Gay Days the company completed a "minuscule amount of tows," he said. 

Schmeltzer also said the towing company had "spotters" to look for people who left the center so their vehicles so they could be towed. 

"With many of these people, their cars were towed within 5, 10 15 minutes [of parking]," he said. "This was total predator towing. There's really no other word for it." 

The tow truck would hide around the corner and when a spotter saw someone walk across the street to the hotel, the spotters would call the truck and the vehicle would be towed, the complaint says. 

Those whose cars were towed would have to take a cab ride to the towing company and were charged $165 cash to get their car, including a $40 "gate fee," which isn't permitted under Florida law, the complaint says.

I'm sorry the guy tows more than 100 cars, and does so within 5 to 15 minutes after the owners walk away, and this ONLY happens during events for the LGBT community?

Hey if it walks like a bigot, quacks like a bigot, and tows cars like a bigot, he's a bigot. 

Anti-abortion protestors interrupt moment of silence for deceased member of Unitarian church. So Christian of them.

Flip Benham director of Operation Save America.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Hundreds of anti-choice activists are currently congregating in New Orleans to stage protests against abortion around the city, an event that’s expected to last all week long. So far, tensions have come to a head in an unexpected place: the sanctuary of a church, where abortion opponents interrupted a service to tell congregants that they don’t have a “true faith” because their denomination supports reproductive rights. 

This week’s protests are being spearheaded by the national anti-abortion group Operation Save America, which used to go by the name Operation Rescue National. That far-right organization, frequently criticized for its “militant” tactics, is perhaps best known for being tied to Dr. George Tiller’s assassination. And on Sunday, as part of its week long protest in Louisiana, group members decided to take their message straight to the First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans. 

As the Uptown Messenger reports, anti-abortion activists interrupted worship at the church — specifically, disrupting a moment of silence for a church member who recently passed away — to declare that this particular church isn’t a “true faith” and tell the service attendees to “repent.” Operation Save America’s opinion about the First Unitarian Universalist Church is made clear on its website, which refers to the “church” and its “pastor” in scare quotes and calls it a “synagogue of Satan.”

Apparently this Flip Benham character is the father of the two homophobic twins who lost their reality show for their hateful comments recently.

So I have to ask once again, do ANY of these people ever read the New Testament?

As much as I disagree with Christianity, I simply cannot imagine the Jesus of the Bible being cool with this.

Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis responds to the GOP platform embracing "reparative therapy."

Unlike @TexasGOP, I believe that LGBT Texans #DontNeedFixin. #RPTCON14 pic.twitter.com/UxdNGEEJX1
— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) June 6, 2014

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:  

This week the Republican Party of Texas drafted their 2014 platform and included a plank that states they believe in and support reparative, or “ex-gay” therapy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Reparative therapy, or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) have been deemed harmful, ineffective, and dangerous by every major medical organization in America, and by many around the world. 

Wendy Davis, who made a national name for herself by actually filibustering a Texas anti-abortion bill, is running for Governor on the Democratic ticket. While she faces a steep challenge against far-right Republican Greg Abbott — who opposes both a woman’s right to choose and same-sex marriage — she is proving herself to be a strong liberal.

I posted about this yesterday. 

And I ended the post with these words: "Oh yeah, Texas needs Wendy Davis alright. Desperately!"

Anybody think I'm wrong about that?

Duck Dynasty homophobe to speak at the Republican Leadership Conference. Sounds about right.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

Phil Robertson, the controversial star of the hit TV show "Duck Dynasty" will address the upcoming Republican Leadership Conference on Thursday. 

Robertson will talk to the annual confab in the evening of its opening day, the conference announced Tuesday. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are among the people also scheduled to speak Thursday evening at the conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

That's right Republican party keep right on openly embracing the intolerant, misogynist, and xenophobic.

After all that IS your base.

I don't watch CNN that much anymore, but this segment of Anderson Cooper responding to a bunch of Texas female talk show hosts arguing about the Michael Sam kiss is pretty darn good.

Nicely done.

The two homophobic twins now believe the Devil made HGTV fire them.

Anti-gay twin brothers Jason and David Benham

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Two brothers who were recently fired by HGTV after their anti-gay views came to light said this week that they had been silenced by a “demonic agenda.” 

In an interview on Monday, The Blaze’s Glenn Beck told Jason and David Benham that the same “agenda” that had forced them out for comparing same-sex marriage to Nazism was now celebrating gay football player Michael Sam. 

Jason Benham remarked that the “homosexual community” was not the enemy: “No, it’s God vs. the Devil.” 

“And there’s a small number of people in this world that buy into the idea of this agenda that wants to silence people,” he opined. “We are called to restrain evil so that good may flourish,” David Benham remarked. “Don’t force yourself on anyone. Don’t force your beliefs. That’s why we have the freedom of religion, and the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression, and the freedom of press, is because of this faith that is outlined in the Bible.” 

“We now have the opportunity as a people — right now in 2014 — to say, okay, let’s return back, let’s go back to our foundations,” he added. “I’m not saying that you can’t be a homosexual or an adulterous heterosexual.” 

“What we’re talking about right now on one of our talking points is that fact that we are Americans. This polarizing in which we live is being operated by a demonic agenda to suppress the truth.”

Yes it is demonic forces that are punishing these two guys for claiming that opposing gay marriage is equivalent to opposing the Nazis.

I have to admit that I have only vaguely been aware of this story. But do you know who has been blogging in support of these brothers from the get go?

Well Brancy of course!

Here Nancy French/Bristol Palin complain that the duo were targeted by "anti-Christians" for simply expressing "traditional Christian" beliefs. And here there is a post of them saying that:

“If our faith costs us a television show then so be it.”

You know I am not exactly a habitual church goer, but is it considered "traditionally Christian" to compare homosexuality to Nazism, and blame Satan for making your lose your job?

Cause that, to me, seems more than just a little bit crazy.

Which of course would explain why they would attract the support of Bristol Palin, and her crazy doppelganger Nancy French.

Fred Phelps, founder of the "God Hates Fags" Westboro Church is reported to be dying.

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

I just got off the phone with Nate and he confirmed what he had written. The rumors had been flying for several weeks, he said, but after a conversation with some of his fellow “excommunicated” family members, he found out that the rumors were true. He elaborated on that final line, too, saying that the Phelps family is now blocking anyone who is no longer with the church from seeing him, including Fred’s sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews. 

Why was he kicked out of his own church? Did he have a change of heart near the end of his life? There’s no definitive answer to that and Nate has heard different things (so any explanation is pure speculation right now). 

In any case, it appears that Fred Phelps doesn’t have much longer to live. While some may rejoice at that, Nate’s tone over the phone was anything but happy. He’s losing his father. A father who dedicated his life to spreading hatred and made the lives of so many others so miserable, but a father nonetheless.

You know I try to have compassion for everybody (Yes, even Sarah Palin), but in this case I am going to fail in that endeavor.

There is literally NOTHING about this man which is redeemable. He spread more hatred and ignorance in his lifetime than almost any other person I can think of.

I am also interested in why he was excommunicated, and the cynical part of me thinks it might have been his plan all along to quit the church, ask for forgiveness, and then receive that great Christian get out of hell free card from Jesus.

Whatever the answer, it is impossible not to believe that this world will be at least a slightly better place without Fred Phelps walking around among us.