LGBTQ news and entertainment
Will Rosenzweig, considered a ‘rising star’ in the U.S. Attorney General’s office in Miami was fired this week for anti-Trump blog posts he made 8 years ago – before he became a federal prosecutor. Continue reading “Federal Prosecutor Fired For Anti-Trump Posts He Made Years Ago”
(screen capture via C-SPAN)
(image via Depositphotos)
Just some of the documents found at Mar-a-Lago (photo: Justice Dept)
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
(image via Depositphotos)
It’s the first major action the Biden administration has taken in response to the wave of voting restrictions that Republican-led states have sought to impose in the wake of President Biden’s election.
In a major policy speech earlier this month, Garland pledged to make voting rights a top priority, doubling the number of enforcement staff dedicated to protecting the right to vote.
The lawsuit is being overseen by Kristen Clarke, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan.
Garland also announced Friday that DOJ is launching a task force to investigate and respond to threats against election officials.
Good. https://t.co/vxwPOQfj6Q
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 25, 2021
(screen capture via dash camera footage)
Congratulations to #DarnellaFrazier. #Pulitzer pic.twitter.com/MdXk1Sspqo
— The Pulitzer Prizes (@PulitzerPrizes) June 11, 2021
AT&T donated $56,295 to Mitch McConnell’s 2020 campaign — while he was actively blocking the Equality Act. But what a great Pride Twitter banner 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/qDeBzaGVo2
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 6, 2021
What a fun Pride display 🏳️🌈! But what’s not fun is that American Airlines donated $46,617 to Mitch McConnell’s 2020 campaign — while he was actively blocking the Equality Act from becoming law. pic.twitter.com/Sp4GQat9qk
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 7, 2021
Woah, CUTE Pride logo 🏳️🌈! What’s not cute is giving more than $150,000 to Mitch McConnell and other GOP Senators who are actively blocking the Equality Act from becoming law. pic.twitter.com/dev9T6KYw5
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 10, 2021
Attorney General Merrick Garland (photo: Public Domain)
The Justice Department in a court filing Tuesday said it can “vigorously” defend a religious exemption from federal civil rights law that allows federally funded religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students, a move that surprised some LGBTQ advocates who said the wording went further than just an obligation to defend an existing law.
In the filing, the Biden administration said it “shares the same ultimate objective” as the conservative Christian schools named in the case.
“What this means is that the government is now aligning itself with anti-LGBTQ hate in order to vigorously defend an exemption that everyone knows causes severe harm to LGBTQ students using taxpayer money,” said Paul Carlos Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, which filed the case in March on behalf of dozens of current and past students at conservative religious colleges and universities. “It will make our case harder if the federal government plans to vigorously defend it like they have indicated.”
The case at hand, Hunter v. the U.S. Department of Education, involves 40 LGBTQ students from religious colleges and universities who have filed suit against the government for providing funding to schools with discriminatory policies. The schools, however, are playing the First Amendment rights card saying they have a right to discriminate against queer students via their traditional religious beliefs about sexuality and gender. While it sounds like the Justice Department has thrown us under the bus, over on Michelangelo Signorile’s website LGBTQ civil rights lawyer Jillian Weiss took a look and says this may not be as bleak as it seems:
“As I read the brief, DOJ is trying to prevent religious colleges from taking over the case. They would certainly argue outlier positions that a newly conservative Supreme Court would love to scoop us.
“Sure, 28 USC 1681(a)(3) is bogus: “this section shall not apply to an educational institution which is controlled by a religious organization if the application of this subsection would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.”
“But I would prefer Garland’s DOJ to handle this any day of the week rather than the proposed religious intervenors.”
Donald Trump (photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr – CC License)
The department’s senior leaders were shocked when Mr. Clark’s machinations came to light. They have spent recent weeks debating how he came to betray Mr. Rosen, his biggest champion at the department, and what blend of ambition and conviction led him to reject the results of the election and embrace Mr. Trump’s claims, despite all evidence to the contrary, including inside the department itself.
The plot devised by Mr. Clark and Mr. Trump would have ousted Mr. Rosen and used the Justice Department to pressure lawmakers in Georgia to overturn the state’s election results. But Mr. Trump ultimately decided against firing Mr. Rosen after top department leaders pledged to resign en masse.
Senior Justice department officials, including Rosen, former Attorney General William Barr and former acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall repeatedly refused to file a case with the Supreme Court case since there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The Times goes on to quote colleagues of Clark who were stunned to find out about the plan. “The story kind of shocked me because this is not the Jeff that I know,” said Theodore H. Frank, a friend and former co-worker. A Justice Department watchdog is now apparently investigating the matter. Read the full report at the New York Times.
Jeffrey Clark Was Considered Unassuming. Then He Plotted With Trump. – The New York Times https://t.co/9AD6aHpQg1
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 25, 2021
Justice Dept IG Michael Horowitz announces probe into whether DOJ officials sought to alter election results, amid claims former civil division chief Jeffrey Clark conspired with Trump to subvert Biden’s win.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) January 25, 2021
A Justice Dept. watchdog (Horowitz) has opened an investigation into whether any current or former officials tried improperly to wield the powers of the department to undo the results of the presidential election.
Tip to the watchdog: Clark did.
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) January 25, 2021
Michael Flynn (photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
“The Government has engaged in highly irregular conduct to benefit a political ally of the President,” the ex-judge, John Gleeson, wrote in a scathing legal filing opposing the proposed dismissal. Trump has strongly criticized the prosecution of Flynn.
Gleeson, who was assigned by the judge in Flynn’s case to advise him on several questions, also wrote that the retired Army lieutenant general “has indeed committed perjury” in his statements to the case judge during proceedings in the case, “for which he deserves punishment.”
But Gleeson added that while federal Judge Emmet Sullivan has the power to hold Flynn in criminal contempt for perjuring himself during a plea hearing and another hearing conducted by Sullivan, the judge should “not exercise that authority.”
“Rather, [Sullivan] should take Flynn’s perjury into account in sentencing him on the offense to which he has already admitted guilt,” Gleeson wrote in a filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Twice under oath, Flynn admitted to lying to FBI agents about his discussions with Russia’s ambassador to the United States prior to Trump’s inauguration. In the end, all of this won’t matter. Trust and believe, the Donald will issue a pardon for Flynn. #LockHimUp
Judge Gleeson calls DOJ “corrupt” and abusing power in dismissing Flynn case. Bill Barr may be the most corrupt AG in America history. Certainly worse than Nixon’s John Mitchell. https://t.co/iZrjVmwnEd
— John Dean (@JohnWDean) June 10, 2020