'Young Turks' host Cenk Uygur on Sept. 1, 2015. [YouTube]
Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian mocked Kim Davis on Tuesday, with Uygur wondering what made her believe she was selected to enforce the will of God in Rowan County, Kentucky.
"He needs your sorry ass to do his bidding?" Uygur asked. "Isn't he God? I quote this too many times, but as James T. Kirk would ask, why does God need a spaceship? Why does God need poor somofab*tch Kim Davis?"
Uygur compared Davis, the county clerk, to Muslim fundamentalists for her "brazen" refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses despite being rebuked by both a federal court and the Supreme Court. Davis and her staff have been ordered to appear before a federal judge on Thursday.
Davis cannot be fired from her position because she is an elected official. Kasparian noted that Davis would have to be impeached from her post, but that would require a special session of the Kentucky legislature.
"I would love to follow [Davis] around, and see which rules of the Bible she breaks on a regular basis," Kasparian said.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg rebuffed a Republican House demand for a peek inside an investigation involving Donald Trump as "unlawful," and MSNBC's Al Sharpton agreed it amounted to "tampering."
Bragg's general counsel denied a request for documents and an interview with the district attorney by Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Committee chairs Jim Jordan (R-OH), James Comer (R-KY) and Bryan Steil (R-WI), calling the congressional inquiry an "unprecedented" intervention into a pending local prosecution undertaken at Trump's request.
"Any man that is up in the middle of the night, that is going with this kind of language, is scared to death," Sharpton said of Trump, who has been posting highlyprovocative online attacks against Bragg. "The problem, though, is that he is inciting people, no matter how small they have become as a crowd, to do something. Add that to him having the photo of the bat at a sitting prosecutor, I mean, it's unimaginable. You're right, we'd be arrested for that."
"We have chairmen of committees telling a prosecutor, who is in the middle of an investigation, to come and give us the evidence," Sharpton added. "I mean, they're really tampering with an investigation. This is not an investigation that's concluded. Before we know whether there is an indictment or charge, they're saying bring us the evidence? I mean, this is unheard of. What is Jordan talking about? They're in the middle of a grand jury proceeding. You want the prosecutor to leave the proceeding and tell me the evidence you're giving, and we'll put it on national television so the target can understand the evidence? I mean, we are going beyond all bounds of what is legal, what is respectful, and we have a man who is scared to death, that is up in the middle of the night inciting violence, having a photo with a bat, because he's scared to death he's going to have to face this prosecution."
Since Trump when on a rant last Saturday claiming without evidence that he would be arrested on Tuesday, he has gone on daily attacks against Bragg, culminating with his threat late Thursday of "death and destruction."
With the Journal's editors asserting that they are not convinced that Bragg has an iron-clad case against Trump, they also wrote that GOP lawmakers -- who demanding Bragg appear before them and explain himself -- are way out of line.
Worse still, they wrote that GOP lawmakers got suckered into a fight by Trump that they can't win.
"Donald Trump, the Beltway press corps and Democrats don’t agree on much, but they do all want Mr. Trump to dominate the nation’s political news and conversation. The puzzle is why House Republicans seem eager to fall into this trap by investigating Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s potential prosecution of Mr. Trump," they wrote before adding, "Democrats couldn’t be happier that House Republicans are helping them in their Trump obsession by saying the GOP plans to investigate Mr. Bragg and haul him up before Congress."
They forcefully asserted, "This is a loser’s game. Mr. Bragg has said he won’t cooperate, and he has the law on his side," and then added, "His local police power is protected from federal intrusion as part of the Constitution’s separation of powers. If he refuses a House subpoena, he is likely to win in court if Republicans try to compel him. Even if he showed up at a House hearing, Mr. Bragg could rightly refuse to comment, as any federal or state prosecutor would, because doing so could jeopardize his investigation. He’s unlikely to comply with document requests for the same reason."
The editorial went on to add that Republicans are wasting time that could be spent passing legislation and doung the work they were sent Washington D.C. to do before the editors took their final shot at the Republicans who have "hit the cable shows to talk about Mr. Trump 24 hours a day."
"Republicans are foolish to feed the Trump maw with a campaign against Mr. Bragg that exceeds their power and has no chance of success," they concluded.
Visitors to London's Westminster Abbey are to be allowed to stand – in socks – for the first time in the exact spot where the Charles will be crowned king.
Special guided “barefoot” tours in celebration of the May 6 coronation will include access to the Cosmati pavement, one of Britain’s greatest medieval art treasures, which is usually roped off to the public.
The intricate 13th century mosaic floor – at the heart of the Abbey’s coronation theatre – has been the site of the crowning of kings and queens for more than 700 years.
It was covered over with carpet at many previous coronations including Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953 and George VI’s in 1937, but for Charles, it will remain uncovered, the Abbey said.
Rich in symbolism, it is said to depict the universe, with a spherical globe at its centre, and even foretells the end of the world.
Tourists – kept to small groups of 10 – will be asked to remove their shoes and walk in socks to help protect the pavement, made of geometric pattens of marble, stone, glass and metal, in the Sacrarium.
The guided Crown and Church visits will begin on May 15, a week after the coronation.
Charles will be crowned sitting in the Coronation Chair which will rest on a low stepped dais above the centre circle of the ancient floor in front of the High Altar.
The tour by Abbey experts will reveal the London abbey’s royal links, tell stories from coronations, visit the chair, and allow access to the pavement and explain its history and significance.
“It will be the first time in living memory that the Abbey has invited visitors to walk on the Cosmati pavement where the Coronation Chair will be placed for the crowning of HM The King on Saturday 6 May,” a spokesperson for the abbey said.
The 24ft 10in square pavement was commissioned by Henry III and completed in 1268 as a glittering adornment to his Abbey.
A cryptic inscription even predicts the end of the world, claiming it would last 19,683 years, with a riddle adding together the life spans of different animals including dogs, horses, men, stags, ravens, eagles and whales.
It is considered the best surviving example outside Italy of a rare type of mosaic stonework known as Cosmati after the Italian family who perfected the technique.
The pavement was hidden under carpet and away from public view for 150 years from the 1870s until it was unveiled after a two-year programme of conservation work in 2010.
Britain's late queen was depicted standing on the spot where she was crowned in Australian-born artist Ralph Heimans’ portrait for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
Other elements of the special programme include a new exhibition in the Chapter House. It will explain and illustrate the key elements of the coronation service and its artefacts.
The display opens on April 12 and is included in entry to the Abbey. The Crown and Church tours will run until July 29 and cost £15, plus Abbey entry.
Rich in symbolism, Westminster Abbey's Cosmati pavement where Charles is to be crowned king, is said to depict the universe, with a spherical globe at its centre, and even foretells the end of the world. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa
