Fox News' popup utilitarian lesbian friend attacks gay 'mob' now 'terrorizing' pizza bigots

Tammy Bruce on Fox and Friends

Tucker Carlson set up the fake narrative in his introduction by claiming that an Indiana pizzeria "had to close its doors" after receiving "death threat after death threat" for its support of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
     The truth is that the restaurant has attracted widespread Internet contempt after a co-owner told a TV station that the establishment would not provide pizza for a gay wedding. The self-created notoriety has also resulted in a gofundme campaign set up by sympathizers of the group which so far has collected nearly half a million dollars on behalf of the antigay establishment.
      Maybe the owners really closed their doors to take a vacation in Tahiti?

Esquire: David Brooks condescending advice to gays is a 'dog's breakfast'; he's 'Bull Connor in a $500 suit'

And after Charles Pierce of Esquire was finished with David Brooks, he went after Brooks' dog. (Someone's gaining on you, Maureen Dowd)

     "Morality is a politeness of the soul"? What kind of dog's breakfast is that? Jesus His Own Self said he brought not peace, but a sword. If Brooks wants to stand with religious-based bigotry, with the Micah Clarks of the world, he should just do so and stop wasting all of our time as a sewage-treatment plant for the worst instincts in our politics. "Neighborly problems"? If Brooks wants to say that discrimination against LGBT citizens is not really discrimination worthy of the law's attention, he should just say so, and stop wasting all our time putting Bull Connor in a $500 suit. Here's a "creative accommodation" for you. Don't be a bigot.

     I have to go now. Moral Hazard, the Irish setter owned by David Brooks for photo-op purposes, is laying on his back out in the yard, without even the energy or inspiration to lick his own balls. I'm worried about him, frankly.

Equality Matters documents Fox News' promotion of antigay RFRA Jim Crow laws

Equality Matters says, "The emergence of a national push for expanded state RFRA laws hasn't occurred in a vacuum -- it's happened in the context of a steady drumbeat of fear mongering by conservative media, led by Fox News, over the plight of anti-gay business owners."

Bold Nebraska's fracking video goes viral

More here.



Here's Jane Kleeb, of Bold Nebraska, listening with tangible annoyance to the same arguments she's heard a thousand times before, from an oil industry stooge Heritage Foundation representative before periodically demolishing his excuses.

What's the point of boycotting Indiana?

Matt Baume explains. Aside: people are starting to understand that it was the Roberts Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision that has turned RFRAs (Religious Freedom Restoration Acts) from shields into swords that allow "religious" freedoms of for-profit corporations (!) to trump freedoms of individuals.

Indiana RFRA: David Letterman says Gov. Mike Pence 'threw a wrench into the monkeyworks'

And that is just about right. Even Republicans (like the mayor of Indianapolis) are disgusted by what the GOP did last week. (No Democrat voted for Indiana's RFRA).
     AKSARBENT expected this to happen yesterday when NPH was on the show, but what do we know?

Warren Buffett says Indiana should protect LGBT rights by law; his company got a zero from HRC

Charity begins at home, Warren.

Indiana State Tourism website pretends nothing is wrong; makes no attempt to convince LGBTs to visit state; quite a different story in Indianapolis

Are Visit Indiana honchos really that clueless — or is the state agency being intimidated by Mike Pence's administration to shut up about the controversy the GOP has created?
     We could find no mention of the firestorm scorching Indiana tourism on the home page or even on the state's tourism blog, "Indiana insider," which was about as forthcoming as the 1950s Soviet Politbureau was about inconvenient truths.
     We couldn't find a single gay destination promoted by Visit Indiana or any evidence at all that Indiana's tourist bureau acknowledges that gay tourists even exist.

Contrast the attitude of state tourism officials with those in Indianapolis — which isn't fooling around and certainly isn't taking the GOP's tourism wrecking ball lying down:

No legislation can take away the ethos of Indy, its "Hoosier Hospitality." Indy is built on its people, who are warm, welcoming, and inclusive of all. Visit Indy proudly joins Mayor Greg Ballard in opposing RFRA.

Visit Bloomington isn't addressing the controversy but acknowledges gay visitors with a link on the home page:

Megyn Kelly badgers Tony Perkins: 'But, but, but, but!'

As opposed to its hate/loathe relationship with Sean Hannity and hate/laugh relationship with Bill O'Reilly, AKSARBENT has a hate/love relationship with Megyn Kelly, seen below bugging Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.




     Our appreciation for Kelly's sense of fun is not unalloyed; we weren't amused by this:

Let's just assume for purposes of this hypothetical that discrimination against gays is illegal in Indiana, WHICH IT'S NOT.

     Apparently Megyn doesn't know that anti-LGBT discrimination IS illegal in South Bend, Indianapolis and Bloomington, all of which, the last time we looked, were cities in Indiana.

Watch: complete Indiana dueling press conferences on state's RFRA; Gov. Pence spins it; Dems reject it

Democrats: Pence was in denial yesterday, today he's in the bargaining stage, and tomorrow we hope Pence reaches the stage of acceptance.



Below Gov. Pence began by saying that it's been a tough week in the Hoosier state without admitting which party and what state official were responsible for that.

Antigay Indiana RFRA: Keith Olbermann unfavorably contrasts NCAA's 'boilerplate' response to NFL's decisive response to AZ's 2012 antigay law

Keith Olbermann really is the most eloquent essayist on TV.


(Via Towleroad)

Snarky comment of the day

It comes from one of Towelroad's sassy readers. AKSARBENT wishes it had sassy readers. We're beginning to think our audience just looks at the pictures.

Here are the names of the 4 Indianapolis councilors who refused to support repeal of anti-gay RFRA

24 council members did. But not Cain. Freeman, Holliday or Sandlin.

Seth Myers rips apart the closet bigotry of Indiana's Gov. Pence

Myers: Oh! So you CAN answer a question!




Pence, who obviously thought as recently as Sunday that national media exposure would augment his political currency, spent yesterday desperately trying to con the twitterverse into believing that he hasn't been exposed as a duplicitous jerk who panders to a very bigoted base:

FIX THIS NOW — full, front-page Indianapolis Star editorial to Gov. Mike Pence and GOP

The editor of the Indianpolis Star actually tweeted the paper's full-page, front-page editorial published today, telling the lawmakers (GOP) who created a PR disaster for Indiana to fix their disastrous screwup.
     Indianapolis' GOP mayor is fit to be tied, too.

Virginia, Chicago and Cincinnati woo Indiana businesses angered by GOP's antigay RFRA

Chicago and Virginia and Cincinnatti are eagerly recruiting Indiana businesses appalled by the state's thinly disguised GOP attempt to legalize corporate discrimination against LGBTs.
     Here's coverage of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe attempt to capitalize on the PR disaster inflicted on Indiana by its GOP legislators and governor:

      McAuliffe's open letter encouraged Indiana businesses "to take advantage of Virginia's open, inclusive and thriving business environment," and then went further:

     "...there is another quality that sets our Commonwealth apart from some other states: In Virginia, we do not discriminate against our friends and neighbors, particularly those who are supporting local businesses and generating economic activity.     So if recent events have led you to reevaluate your business relationship with your current home state, I hope you will visit YesVirginia.org and contact me personally about the opportunities our Commonwealth can offer.  Thousands of firms are benefiting from our strategic location, our unparalleled quality of life, our mild winters and our open and inclusive business environment. Come join them."

The Indianapolis Star reported Monday that Chicago Mayor Ron Emanuel's office "sent letters to about a dozen businesses in Indiana, saying that the act is wrong and urging Indiana business owners to:

     "...consider Chicago as a place to move and grow."
     Businesses can't "succeed in the global economy if you discriminate against your residents," Emanuel said.

     Last week, the Cincinnati City Council's first openly gay member, Chris Seelbach, issued a twitter invite to Indiana businesses fed up with their state's powerdrunk antigay GOP legislative majorities:

Media Matters shows how Fox News lied about IN antigay law; then, AFTER it blew up, told the truth

Before: Indiana law was JUST LIKE the federal RFRA:



After: Oh, wait — it's REALLY A LOT DIFFERENT

Indiana Dems: power-drunk GOP has embarrassed Indiana before nation and 'lost touch with Hoosiers'

The GOP mayor of Indianapolis isn't happy with the state's GOP either.  Want to known which Indiana representatives and senators voted for the state's new license-to-discriminate law? Go here.
 

Indianapolis' GOP Mayor: 'RFRA' threatens what thousands of people have spent decades building

Although the state of Indiana refuses to extend civil rights protections to LGBTs, Indianapolis has done so for years. The city's GOP mayor is taking a dim view of the anger that Indiana's GOP lawmakers and governor has brought down on his city and other progressive municipalities. (To see who voted for Indiana's RFRA, go here.)

Raw video: Top Indiana GOP lawmakers desperately backpedal over state's new right-to-discriminate law

The best part was at 20:05 (not 10:05 as AKSARBENT erroneously tweeted) when a reporter asked if the presser hastily called by Indiana's two top GOP statehouse lawmakers was because of Gov. Mike Pence's performance on Sunday's This Week (in which he refused EIGHT TIMES to answer yes/no questions from moderator George Stephanopoulos.)
     The answer, from Indiana's GOP House Speaker Brian Bosma: "...Yes"



From CNN's Jeremy Diamond:

     ...But Indiana's top GOP lawmakers also stuck to the line that the law, in its current form, could not be used to discriminate against LGBT individuals and that any other understanding was a result of "mischaracterization" and "misperception. They also insisted the law had been "misconstrued" and "misrepresented," wagging their fingers at the media and groups opposed to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, dubbed RFRA.
     The state's Democratic legislators said Monday Republicans' proposed "fix" would not be enough to blunt the damage the law has done to the state's image around the country.
     "If Republicans want a fix, there's only one choice. And that is to repeal this law," Sen. Tim Lanane, the state senate's minority floor leader, said as he waived around papers he said would repeal the law and expand Indiana's civil rights act to protect "all Hoosiers."

Meanwhile, Chris Cuomo ripped apart the lie by Peter Spriggs of the Family Research Council, that Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act is "exactly" like the federal RFRA. It is not.