The Pope came to the U.S. and had a great visit, lauded by faithful Catholics and the Democrats as well. As soon as he got back to Rome, something hit the fan that no one expected. Kim Davis and her lawyers from the far-right Liberty Counsel announced that she had met with the Pope when he was in Washington D.C. and he actually encouraged her in her fight against the gays.
Well, that's what they said. The real story is quite different. A conservative right-to-life bishop who favored the last Pope is behind all this, and he set up Pope Francis. And in the past week, her attorney's group Liberty Counsel has been labeled a "hate group." But what's really offensive is that a low-level American bureaucrat who acts like Dolores Umbridge should command the news cycle on a world scale the way this woman does. She really needs to resign and go away, or Judge Bunning in Kentucky needs to throw her back in jail.
The firestorm began when David and her lawyers from the Liberty Council went all over the national media talking about a "private meeting" with the Pope, his blessing her and telling her to "stay strong," and insinuating that he expressed support for her refusal to do her job.
The Vatican, to its own detriment, dragged its heels and gave non-committal responses to journalists as Davis and her team continued to wring out every bit of attention they could -- without producing any evidence of a "meeting" -- with any media outlet that expressed interest. Not enough media were responsible to note that just last week another fraud was perpetrated by Davis and her team about a rally that included grossly exaggerated information.
Finally, official reaction is coming late and only under tremendous pressure, and has made this into a public relations as well as religion and political story. Headlines now scream "Vatican Source: Pope Blindsided By Meeting With Controversial Kentucky Clerk."
. . . So it turns out that Davis, like so many others during this trip, was able to shake the Pope's had, be blessed and exchange a few words, which I am sure he said to others. Private meeting? Encouraging her for her conviction? I doubt he even knew who she was, frankly, and the whole think stinks of making a mountain of good PR out of a molehill of an interaction.
The Pope’s secret meeting with Kim Davis sparked a social media firestorm following his historic first visit to the U.S. last month — people demanded answers to a variety of questions from “Who set this up?” to “Why meet with Kim Davis over more worthy Catholics?”
Once the Vatican claimed it wasn’t responsible for organizing the meeting, the man who did was quickly identified as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, an anti-gay crusader whose “rough management style” had him ousted from the Vatican and relocated to the U.S. in 2011.
Speaking with The New York Times, Matthew D. Staver, an attorney for Kim Davis, confirmed that Viganò extended an invitation to his client, but that everyone assumed the invitation had come directly from the Pope himself.
Staver and Viganò are apparently old pals, having once met at an anti-gay National Organization for Marriage rally in Washington, D.C. According to Staver, Viganò made a point to “thank me for my message” when the two met.
The Pope, as indicated by a gay couple who met him on the same day as Davis, was blindsided by the meeting.
Kim Davis went back to work on Monday, but was still adamant that she expects the State of Kentucky and the rest of the United States to make an "accommodation" so she doesn't have to do her job handing out marriage licenses to those nasty gay people she also says she loves as a Christian (but whom she wants to punish). Having deputy clerks do her job for her got her out of jail, but Kim isn't finished, not by a country mile.
Let's face it, this woman is a drama queen: married four times, dresses like Granny Clampett on national TV, going into ecstasy standing beside Mike Huckabee to the cheers of the crowd. She still thinks she is in control of the situation, even after jail time.
But she may be overplaying her crazy in tampering with the state of Kentucky marriage license form, changing the way it is signed. Her signature doesn't appear, and her Deputy is merely listed as "notary public," which is insulting if not an illegal demotion - I would sue her just for that. The ACLU has taken notice:
Upon returning to work Monday, Davis said the licenses issued by her deputy clerks would not have her name, title, or authorization on them. “Instead the licenses will state that they are issued pursuant to a federal order,” she said.
Davis also said she had “great doubts” about the validity of the licenses issued under these conditions.
“I’m fine with it. I have my marriage license. I believe it is valid,” Shannon Wampler-Collins, told BuzzFeed News after getting her marriage license on Monday.
The license says it is “issued … pursuant to federal court order.”
In addition, while Deputy Clerk Brian Mason’s name is on the license, the form identifies him as a “notary public” instead of a deputy clerk.
Those two most recent changes — naming a court order instead of Davis’s name and calling a deputy clerk a notary public — went further than changes that had been made to licenses issued while Davis was in jail, leading the ACLU, which has represented plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Davis, to suggest that the modified licenses may be invalid.
James Esseks, director of the group’s LGBT project, said in a statement Monday night he has “concerns about the validity of the marriage licenses issued today given the further alteration of the forms.” The group said it reviewing it’s options, but, when asked by BuzzFeed News, ACLU staff did not elaborate on its concerns with the legality of forms or explain what actions it could take.
Today Kim Davis, Court Clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, was released from jail. The original gay and straight plaintiffs who complained about her to the court said they had received their marriage licenses from the deputy clerks in her office last week, so Judge Dunning allowed her to walk free. Her extremely conservative fans immediately saw this as a great victory, and made a public spectacle of themselves, led by a couple of grifters GOP presidential hopefuls were on scene to help her celebrate her release - Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz - both hoping to gain political capitol by associating with such a religious icon to the far right.
But not so fast. Kim Davis never promised she wouldn't interfere with gay marriage anymore. If she goes back to her cushy $80,000 per year job and starts preaching to gay citizens or forbidding her deputies from handing out licenses, she may be right back in the lock-up.
The Kentucky clerk, who was held in contempt of court for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, urged her supporters not to give in.
"Thank you all so much. I love you all so very much," she said. "I just want to give God the glory. His people have rallied, and you are a strong people. We serve a living God who knows exactly where each and every one of us is at. Just keep on pressing. Don't let down, because he is here. He's worthy."
. . . U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered that Davis be released from jail -- five days after he sent her there -- saying he was satisfied that her deputies fulfilled their obligations to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples in her absence.
But Bunning's new order says Davis cannot interfere with her deputies issuing marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.
That means Davis could find herself behind bars again if she does anything to prevent the marriages from taking place, CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin said.
"If Ms. Davis stops them from issuing licenses, then we are right back where we started," Toobin said. "And Judge Bunning has made it quite clear, he will lock her back up."
. . . Of the two presidential contenders who attended the rally, it was Mr. Huckabee, making his second White House run, who grabbed the political spotlight. Before Ms. Davis appeared, Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Staver took the stage to tell the crowd, in unison, “Kim Davis is free.”
When Mr. Cruz, who met with Ms. Davis, exited the Carter County Detention Center, a throng of journalists beckoned him toward their microphones, but an aide to Mr. Huckabee blocked the path of the senator, who appeared incredulous.
. . . Many demonstrators, few of them expecting that Ms. Davis would be released, brought lawn chairs. On one side, there were signs with Bible verses and one comparing the Supreme Court to the Islamic State, while a man with a megaphone urged people to repent. On the other, people waved signs saying “God Loves!!!! Period!”
Linda Clark, 40, an opponent of same-sex marriage from Olive Hill, Ky., said, “We’re happy for God to raise an army for what the majority of people want.”
Even Fox News couldn't take this stuff.
Shepard Smith went on an epic rant against the haters:
Shepard Smith of Fox News: “Well, they've set this up as a religious play again. This is the same crowd that says 'We don't want Sharia Law - don't let them come in here and start telling us what to do. Keep their religion out of our lives and out of our government.' Well, here we go again.
When this started, this lawyer said he needed an accommodation for a woman who wanted one. She said she didn’t want her name on a license for gay people.... Now they’ve come up with one,they’ve let her out of jail… said 'you don't have to have to name on there, just put the name of the county on there, all this is done. But it’s not what they want. This is what they want, what you’re hearing now and this what they’re going to get: get a stirred up argument and a couple of days in the news cycle, and they’re going to be able to make these claims. And the truth is, when you get right down to the fundamentals of this, the Supreme Court of the United States saysyou can't have things being OK for one group of people, but not OK for another group of people. This is not unprecedented. They did it when they said black and white people couldn’t marry. And they said, 'Oh wait, I guess you can.' Now they've said straight people and gay people. all y'all can get married.If you want to get married, go right at it. The government's not going to get in the way of you anymore than they got in the way of straight people back in the day. But, haters are going to hate. We thought what this woman wanted was an accommodation, which they’ve granted her, something that worked for everybody. But it’s not what they want.”
Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis went to jail yesterday for refusing to hand out marriage licenses to gay couples, but today was a new day in Rowan County. The deputy clerks stepped up and did their jobs, leaving religious conservatives with nothing to do but howl.
...Yates and Smith walked up to Deputy Clerk Brian Mason.
Mason was all business. He checked their licenses, asked them if they were related, took their $35 and, in about five minutes, handed them an envelope and said, "Congratulations."
Yates and Smith had become the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license from Rowan County.
They exited to chants of "Love has won. Love has won."
"I don't want her in jail," Yates said of Davis. "No one wanted her in jail. We just wanted the licenses given out. This isn't a blessing. It's an official license."
Clerk Kim Davis's attorney, Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, immediately announced that any new licenses are invalid. Of course, he is wrong, since Judge Dunning ordered her under deputies to get back to work or face contempt charges themselves.
“They are not being issued under the authority of Rowan County and they’re not worth the paper that they’re written on,” said Mat Staver, chair of Liberty Counsel, the non-profit law firm that is representing Davis.
Sam Marcosson, a law professor for the University of Louisville, said the marriage licenses are valid because Davis had no authority to stop issuing them in the first place.
“Since she’s acting contrary to her legal duties and without authority any actions she would take to block the marriage licenses would be invalid,” he said.
Oh, the bitching and moaning of the religious right - starting with Davis's attorney, who blew up at Chris Hayes for asking hard questions when all he really wanted to do is bash gay marriage:
Hayes: Mr. Staver, how is the fundraising going?
Staver: Why don't you ask the ACLU?
Hayes: They're not standing in front of me but I'd be happy to. I think they're doing quite well.
Staver: But you never asked that question of the ACLU. Why don't you ask that of the ACLU? Why don't you ask the people who represented O.J. Simpson, where they were getting their money?
Hayes: Mr. Staver --
Staver: It's absolutely irrelevant to the issue-- the issue is--
Hayes: Mr. Staver -- The issue is there's a woman in prison--
Staver: --accommodate her religious conscience and religious freedom. You may not want to address that, but--
Hayes: Mr. Staver, there are allies of yours - they think you're taking Kim Davis for a ride and basically raising money off her plight. So I'm just asking you the question. How are you doing on fundraising this week? Staver: Anyone who asks that question does not know Kim Davis. Kim Davis has a strong conviction and conscience-- Hayes: OK Staver: --She contacted us for representation. We are representing her. I can tell you we are putting a whole lot more money into the cost and expenses than we would ever get from this case. This was never about fundraising. It's conscience. If you can't get that simple idea that we've got freedom of religion and conscience rights. And the question is not whether she's sincere, not whether there's a collusion, but is there a reasonable way to accommodate her--
Hayes: No, no, the question is--
Staver: The answer is, yes there is.
Hayes: No, the question is, with all due respect, the question is - is there a limiting condition? You failed to give me one. Mr. Staver, thank you very much.
County Clerk Kim Davis of Rowan County, Kentucky, has been pitching a fit about the Supreme Court gay marriage act now for months. As a result, many couples, both gay and straight, who wanted to get married in the county where they live and pay taxes have been unable to get a license. As details have emerged about her own private life, she has been exposed as a royal hypocrite:
Davis cannot be fired because she is an elected official, and can only be removed by legislative impeachment. Unfortunately the Kentucky Legislature is out of session until January and Democratic Governor Steve Beshear has decided not to waste taxpayer money on a special session, since the Legislature has to change many laws to be in compliance with the SCOTUS ruling:
"The General Assembly will convene in just four months and can make any statutory changes it deems necessary at that time. I see no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money calling a special session of the General Assembly when 117 and 120 county clerks are doing their jobs."
Several straight and gay couples who had been turned away by Ms. Davis sued to put pressure on her to comply. The attorneys of Davis, paid goons from the so-called conservative "Liberty Counsel," appealed to the Supreme Court to save her, but were turned down flat. Why? Because their arguments have no standing under the law, so they write about Ms. Davis's feelings and opinions as if they matter more than any other citizen in Rowan County or the state of Kentucky. Basically, they are just using Davis to rabble rouse the far-right evangelicals who give money to groups like . . . Liberty Counsel. It's a money-makin' deal. God told them to do it, I guess. Oh, and they really, really hate "The Gay."
6. Staver, Davis’ lawyer, has compared those who don’t denounce #MarriageEquality to those remaining silent during the Holocaust. #KimDavis
At that point a Federal Judge ordered Ms. Davis and her staff into court in Ashland, KY, and it all hit the fan today. There was chaos outside the Federal Courthouse, lots of shouting and sign-waving from both sides:
Judge Dunning decided not to seek monetary fines from Davis because he knew that religious groups would just continue paying them. Instead, after asking if she would comply and she refused, he ordered her into "indefinite" custody of Federal Marshalls. Outside the courthouse, those in favor of equality cheered.
Later in the day, five deputy clerks told the judge they would be willing to give licenses to gay couples, except for one - Davis's son - who for some reason was not charged with contempt of court (I would have charged him!). Davis was asked back into court, but she refused and merely sent her attorney to tell the judge she would not comply and if released she would "interfere" with marriage licenses. So Judge Dunning proceeded with contempt charges. Later she was booked and a mug shot taken. Her attorneys are trying something to get her out, but I doubt if it will work.
She wanted to be a martyr, so she's a martyr. She's also probably lost a plum $80,000/year job that is rare as hen's teeth in Rowan County, Kentucky. And she's caused everyone who works there distress and legal fees, for which they will not thank her. The religious right will scream and wail "Christian Persecution" (Huckabee and Cruz, for instance). The Legislature may try to save her, but hey - she can always work for Hobby Lobby or Chick-Fil-A, right?
In another major victory for the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court struck down all the gay marriage bans in various states, making marriage equality the law of the land.
In the 5-4 ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority with the four liberal justices. Each of the four conservative justices wrote their own dissent.
Nearly 46 years to the day after a riot at New York's Stonewall Inn ushered in the modern gay rights movement, the decision could settle one of the major civil rights fights of this era. The language of Kennedy's opinion spoke eloquently of the most fundamental values of family, love and liberty.
Obama: "Sometimes there are days like this - when that slow steady effort is awarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt"
The town of McKinney, Texas, became the new "face of racism" this week after a pool party was broken up by a rogue cop. Officer Eric Casebolt was filmed rolling on the ground as if in a video game as he entered an area where young teens were having a pool party; he then proceeded to curse at and man-handle a 14-year-old girl before sitting on her, and at one point waved his weapon directly at several boys who sought to help the girl on the ground. At that point at least two officers stepped in to make him put down his gun because he was clearly out of control.
Words can't do this situation justice, so we're lucky to have video thanks to another child who filmed the whole thing.
Just the language coming from Casebolt was bad enough, but the way these kids were treated was completely shocking and uncalled-for, not to mention blatantly racist.
Eric Casebolt has now resigned from the McKinney police force:
Cpl. Eric Casebolt's resignation comes a day after hundreds of protesters marched near the pool in McKinney where the incident took place last weekend.
McKinney Chief of Police Greg Conley said this evening that Casebolt's actions on the cell phone recording of the incident were "indefensible."
"Our policies, our training, our practice do not support his actions," he added.
Conley described Casebolt as being "out of control," while praising the actions of the 11 other officers on the scene.
"I had 12 officers on the scene and 11 of them... did an incredible job," Conley said.
But Casebolt's lawyer says he is "suffering" from this ordeal and other recent events, such as suicide calls he witnessed the same day as the pool party:
The officer, Eric Casebolt, was under emotional duress when he responded Friday evening to reports of a disturbance at a community pool in McKinney, Texas, said his attorney, Jane Bishkin. Earlier that day, the officer had handled two suicide calls, including one in which a man shot himself in the head in the presence of his children.
“The nature of these two suicide calls took an emotional toll,” she said at a news conference. “He allowed his emotions to get the better of him.”
In court documents, Albert Earl Brown Jr. described how, in April 2007, he was sitting in a car with white female passengers, when Casebolt approached the vehicle and made comments about Brown’s clothes and the white women Brown was with.
In court documents, Brown said that Casebolt asked to search the car after allegedly seeing marijuana seeds, yet Brown maintained that Casebolt didn’t find any drugs after the car search. Brown alleged that Casebolt pulled down Brown’s pants to conduct a body search while another officer slammed Brown’s face into the hood of the car. In response to the complaint, Casebolt said that he did, in fact, find marijuana seeds inside Brown’s car.
Brown was convicted of a drug charge stemming from that arrest, but he still filed a civil rights lawsuit against Casebolt and the other police officers present during the arrest. Brown argued that Casebolt conjured up a “fake charge” in order to cover up how badly and inappropriately Casebolt and the officers had treated Brown during the stop and arrest.
The lawsuit was dismissed because Brown said he was incarcerated and unable to collect all of the evidence he needed to prove his case. Brown also said he didn’t understand the legal process enough to follow through with the suit, the International Business Times reports. Later that year, Casebolt won the Patrolman of the Year award, according to the International Business Times.
There is a major concensus among those attending the party, white and black, that race was a motivating factor in the 911 calls and the reaction of Officer Casebolt.
Brandon Brooks, the 15-year-old white teen who shot the video, said there's no doubt race was a factor in how police responded. He said the officer was targeting black teens at the scene.
"I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening," he told CNN affiliate KDAF. "You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kinda like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down."
Brandon said the argument that drew police to the pool party didn't even involve most of the teens Casebolt was going after.
"It was a fight between a mom and girl, which had nothing to do with all the other kids," he told KDAF.
Brandon said he was unnerved to see his friend tackled and pressed to the ground.
"I think she was 'running her mouth,' and she has freedom of speech, and that was very uncalled for him to throw her to the ground," he said.
Talking head Megyn Kelly of Fox News took flack for saying on air that the 14-year-old girl who was wrestled to the ground by Casebolt was "No Saint," echoing a similar controversial headline by the New York Times after the shooting death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, another racially motivated attack by police. People on social media were quick to note the difference in Kelly's tone from the softball interview just last week with the Duggar clan, whose eldest son is facing a scandal over molesting several of his sisters as well as a babysitter. Kelly was also quick to interview 911 caller Sean Toon as an eyewitness without any apparent background check (scroll down to see more about that below).
Fox News host Megyn Kelly said on Monday that, while she was not defending McKinney, Texas police officer Eric Casebolt’s actions last week, the 15-year-old girl he attacked was not without blame.
“The girl was no saint, either,” Kelly said of Dajerria Becton. “He had told her to leave, and she continued to linger. When a cop tells you to leave, get out.”
Conservative radio host Michael Berry said the McKinney kids were "acting like jungle animals," and thus the actions of Casebolt were justified.
“You’ve got a ready-made crowd of people who don’t have day jobs that are ready to storm the streets and threaten the cops,” Berry said on his eponymous show on Houston’s KTRH, which is an iHeartRadio network station. “Let me suggest that for the people who end up getting in fights with the cops: Shut your mouth!” NBC News cannot be certain the audio was not edited.
“Let me ask you, how many among you would put on a badge and a police uniform today?” he added. “How many of you would put on a badge, police uniform and be the first to respond — by yourself — to a crowd of teenagers, amped up — watch ‘em! Man, they’re screaming! ‘Get outta here! Who are you?! You don’t know what you! You go! You get! Who are you?! You can’t do that! No man, we gon’ get you! You bet!’ I mean you’re talking about, like, jungle animals. I mean this is wild, crazy, out of control.”
On his Monday broadcast, Berry also defended the “probably white” people who called police to the scene at the pool party, saying they were “scared to death” because “there’s a bunch of black people and they’re out on the streets and they’re fightin’ and carryin’ on and they’re playing that music from Jay-Z.”
Yeah, but not racist, right?
Several white adults are believed to have called the police when they thought the black teens were getting rowdy or believed the children of color "didn't belong there" due to, you know, their race. But that wasn't true - most of the kids were from that development, known as Craig Ranch, if police had bothered to listen to them.
A local white man named Sean Toon admitted to calling 911 and the next day posted a "thank you" sign at the pool for the police. Twitter's revenge was the hashtag #SeanToon911. Some digging from people on Twitter uncovered a felonious history for Mr. Toon, who was once charged for brutally killing farm animals as a teen, and later served jail time for "assault with a deadly weapon" on a human being.
In November 1999, aged 18, Toon and three high school friends were arrested and expelled from school after vandalising the agricultural centre of a rival high school district and attacking animals housed there, many of which were owned and cared for by school children.
“Cows and pigs were cut and bruised, apparently beaten with wooden boards. And baby turkeys were slain, their limbs torn apart,” the Dallas Morning News reported at the time. Dale Gardner, a teacher in the school district’s agriscience and technology program, told the newspaper: “It was brutal. There’s no way to describe it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
About a dozen prize turkeys, which were reportedly being bred by a student aiming to win money for his scholarship fund, were feared killed.
Animals and buildings were covered in green and gold paint, according to reports. These were the colours of Toon’s high school, Newman Smith, whose football team rivalled that of RL Turner High, whose students used the agricultural centre.
. . . Toon pleaded guilty to felony criminal mischief and was sentenced in August 2000 to 285 days in jail and fined $300. His three friends were also punished for the incident.
A Dallas County court clerk confirmed details of the case on Wednesday but was unable to confirm how long Toon served in jail.
In September 2000, Toon was charged in nearby Denton County with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records. After pleading guilty to an unspecified lesser charge, Toon was sentenced to 75 days in jail.
