Michael Avenatti arrested in Los Angeles on domestic violence charges: report
November 14, 2018, 6:07 PM ET
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A right-wing group partnered with a convicted sex offender in holding a “Pastors Summit,” Ja’han Jones writes for MSNBC’s The ReidOut Blog.
Turning Point USA held the Pastors Summit May 24-26 in Nashville, Tennessee. Among the event’s corporate sponsors was a Christian fashion company run by Shawn Bergstrand, a registered sex offender who served time in federal prison for attempted coercion and enticement after trying to persuade a female juvenile to engage in sexual activity, the report said.
Jones writes that “Members and affiliates of the right-wing, extremist-friendly group are some of the most vocal in the crusade to malign LGBTQ people and their allies as child sex predators.
“But the group appears to be more accepting of those found to have preyed on minors than it lets on. And that hypocrisy led to a wave of criticism over the weekend.”
Bergstrand’s role in the Pastors Summit was first reported by Rolling Stone.
A TPUSA spokesman, in a statement to Rolling Stone, said the group was unaware of Bergstrand’s background but noted that he was not a speaker or organizer, and wasn’t “professing doctrine from the stage.”
“One of the core tenets of the Christian faith is forgiveness rooted in repentance. After discussing the issue with him, we believe [it] was critical to bringing him to faith,” TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet told Rolling Stone.
“He doesn’t hide from what happened, he instead posts his testimony online on his company website. TPUSA Faith will not toss away a repentant, decent person because of a mistake that happened over a decade before, or because a leftwing outlet wants to write a hit piece on the amazing work our team is doing.”
Jones notes that far-right commentators such as Candace Owens, who previously served as the group’s communications director, tried to depict Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as a “pedophile sympathizer” during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings last year, alleging that Jackson “took a uniquely soft approach to sentencing people convicted of child sex crimes.”
Jones writes that, “It's ironic given TPUSA President Charlie Kirk's recent rants about purported ‘groomers.’ Needless to say, if you’ve been baselessly lobbing allegations of child sex predation at others, it’s probably best to ensure no one you're affiliated with has been convicted of similar crimes. This rule apparently never made it into the TPUSA trainers’ manual.”
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'I don't want reality': Republican gets into heated debate about merits of 'Jesus Loves Me' lyrics
May 31, 2023
A Republican Senator told a hearing "I don't want reality" as he tried to get witnesses to debate the merits of a children's book called "Our Skin" compared to the lyrics of the Christian song "Jesus Loves Me."
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was talking at a Senate hearing of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Wednesday, reported The Messenger.
It turned tense as the members debated the recent spate of book-bannings. Mullin demanded that witnesses answer if they thought the child's book about race had a better lesson in it than "Jesus Loves Me."
Mullin read a section of "Our Skin" which stated White people invented "a thing called race" and began sorting people based on color. He then read the lyrics to "Jesus Loves Me."
“If you don’t want to answer my question, that’s fine. Let’s move on down the panel. Which one is better to be taught? This book or the ‘Jesus Loves Me’ lyrics, that say everybody’s skin doesn’t matter. They’re all precious in his sight,” Mullin yelled.
He claimed "Our Skin" was a book being used to "blame" White people for racism.
Cheryl Morman, who serves as the president of the Virginia Alliance for Family Child Care Associations, told Mullin she believed Jesus was important, but he cut her off.
“So, which one is better?” he demanded.
“But the reality is —” she continued.
Mullin asked his question again as Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stepped in, asking him to "let her answer the question, please."
She attempted to speak, but he talked over her again.
"That doesn't answer my question. You're not answering my question. If you don't want to answer my question, that's fine," Mullin shouted.
"The reality is —" she began again before he cut her off.
“I don’t want reality! I’m asking the question! Which one is better? That's exactly what it is,” Mullin said.
The committee members began to laugh, joined in by others in the room.
“Got it on tape,” one unidentified member chuckled.
Mullin quickly tried to clean up the reality statement by saying he misspoke, rambling on that to him "Jesus is always first."
Several states, most notably Florida, have instigated book bans in schools or libraries for publications deemed inappropriate.
Watch the moment in the Senate hearing at this link.
Oklahoma Republican admits 'I don't want reality' in Senate hearing youtu.be
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Wednesday teased the release of security camera footage from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to several news agencies.
The right--wing congresswoman in a tweet confirmed that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) had provided conservative commentators John Solomon and Julie Kelly, along with an unnamed third outlet, “unfettered” access to the tapes.
“I’m excited to share the good news that, just as I promised, the J6 tapes are being released!” Greene tweeted.
“@SpeakerMcCarthy has given @jsolomonReports, @Julie_kelly2 , and a third outlet unfettered access to the J6 tapes, and their reporting on it starts tomorrow.
“This is the transparency the American people deserve and I look forward to their reporting!”
Greene earlier this month called for the public release of the video footage.
“A lot of people are asking me when we are going to release the J6 video tapes,” Greene wrote in a May 11 tweet.
“Well I’m wondering the very same thing and waiting too. The American people paid for the video cameras that are installed all over the Capitol building that they also pay for.
“And most of all the riot scenes have been shown repeatedly a gazillion times in loop for over two years anyways.
“It won’t give the Democrats anything new, but it might give us all something new.”
Greene in the May 11 tweet suggested that publicly releasing the video footage would prevent Democrats from using the insurrection to their political advantage.
“January 6, 2021 is the most politicized day in American history and Democrats are going to base their entire 2024 campaigns attacking Republicans and President Trump about J6 because their party and their policies are SO BAD and America Last that they have no record to brag about, only tremendous failure,” she wrote.
“Over 1,000 people have been arrested, charged, served time, and are still awaiting trial AND the Democrat weaponized DOJ says they are arresting 1,000 more.”
Greene claimed that the footage shows that U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick’s was not related to the insurrection “like ALL the Democrats and the media told you.”
“Yes well the rest of the video footage needs to be released to THE PEOPLE because it’s hard to lie to people all the time when they can go look at it and form their own opinion,” Greene wrote.
“AOC and the well funded anarchist communist groups that support her are still organizing riots against police because she’s big mad at another white guy for bravely defending people from a dangerous known criminal who died later, instead of the innocent law abiding tax paying citizens who suffer from her horrible America Last Criminal First Democrat policies, and none of her Antifa ground troops are rotting in jail.”
Greene added: “We need to release the J6 tapes to a public on line source so that everyone knows what did and didn’t happen, we need to restore fair justice, and America can move on.”
Greene’s announcement that the tapes will be released to three outlets drew rebuke from a far-right Twitter user with 1.7 million followers, who suggested the announcement was a way of mitigating political fallout among conservatives over the debt ceiling compromise.
“Again ... the promise was to release it to the public,” Twitter user “Catturd” wrote on the social media site.
“Releasing it to 3 members of the press is a million miles away from that…and this is being released today to soften the blow of McCarthy caving and screwing us again” on the debt ceiling deal.
“Tired of these games.”
\u201cI\u2019m excited to share the good news that just as I promised the J6 tapes are being released!\n\n@SpeakerMcCarthy has given @jsolomonReports, @Julie_kelly2, and a third outlet unfettered access to the J6 tapes, and their reporting on it starts tomorrow.\n\nThis is the transparency the\u2026\u201d— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1685556918
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