With Less Than Two Weeks to Go, Roy Moore Surges Ahead in Poll
Despite sexual misconduct allegations, the homophobe has bounced back in the race.
www.advocate.com/politics/2017/11/29/less-two-weeks-go-roy-moore-surges-ahead-poll
Monthly Archives: November 2017
Gay Twitter in a tizzy over David Pocock’s revealing post-workout share
Gay Twitter in a tizzy over David Pocock’s revealing post-workout share
“David Pocock can get it.”
Lesbian Couple Say They Were Raped, Beaten and Held in Basement for Four Days: VIDEO
Lesbian Couple Say They Were Raped, Beaten and Held in Basement for Four Days: VIDEO
A lesbian couple have alleged they were kidnapped, beaten and raped in the basement of a home in Indianapolis earlier this month.
In a probable cause affidavit filed on Monday, the women describe being beaten, tied up, pistol-whipped and locked in a basement without access to food and water. One of the women says she was raped.
Both women had bruises and cuts on their faces. One of them had a broken collarbone.
RELATED: Neighbor Recounts Rescue of Three Women Kidnapped for 10 Years in Cleveland Home: VIDEO
IndyStar reports:
The pair, who told police they are married, went to the house to do heroin, according to the affidavit, and arrived the early morning of Nov. 10.
One of the women asked to borrow a green Mustang from [Melissa] Richards [above], who is charged as a co-defendant in the case, according to online court records. The women said Richards became angry when the car wasn’t returned soon enough.
Richards told the woman she would be “keeping” her wife until the car was returned, the woman told police.
“Don’t make me take something else you love,” Richards told the woman, according to the affidavit. “I’m not playing with you.”
The other woman told police she was beaten and left in a “big closet” inside the home. At some point, she became aware of someone pulling her pants off. Inside the closet, she says 32-year-old Kenneth A. Braswell raped her.
The first woman eventually returned to the home and was beaten alongside her wife, according to the affidavit.
One of the women said she watched as the other was beaten “to the point that she ended up on the ground and I didn’t know if she was alive anymore.”
Both say they spent several days in the basement. They were only given food and water once but couldn’t eat due to the extent of their injuries.
One of the women overheard Nieves saying Richards had been instructed to give them a “hot shot” — a dose of heroin and chlorine — but did not, according to court documents. The women told police that Bell and Nieves put them in the green Mustang on Nov. 14 and said they were going to a south-side motel to sell heroin to someone else before taking them home.
One of the women told police she overheard Nieves talking about taking them to Bargersville to kill them and he knew someone there who would help them bury the bodies, according to the affidavit.
The women say that after the car blew a tire and pulled into a convenience store, they asked a clerk for help and locked themselves inside a restroom until police arrived.
During a search on the home on North Grant Avenue, police found a bloody towel, bloody sweatpants and a “large blood puddle” in the basement. In the Mustang they found two handguns, duct tape, a machete, a blanket and two cellphones.
Braswell faces eight counts, including rape, kidnapping, criminal confinement and battery while Richards faces six counts, including criminal confinement and battery. Two other men, Thomas J. Bell (26) and Jose Nieves (35), are scheduled to appear for a jury trial in January alongside Braswell.
Watch a report below.
The post Lesbian Couple Say They Were Raped, Beaten and Held in Basement for Four Days: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
Lesbian Couple Say They Were Raped, Beaten and Held in Basement for Four Days: VIDEO
Who Is Jayda Fransen? The Notorious Islamophobe Whose Warnings About Islam Donald Trump Retweeted
Who Is Jayda Fransen? The Notorious Islamophobe Whose Warnings About Islam Donald Trump Retweeted
Jayda Fransen was a notorious Islamophobe long before Donald Trump retweeted her warnings about Islam.
The 31-year-old was convicted of religiously aggravated assault for shouting at a woman in a hijab last year.
She told the woman Muslims cannot control their sexual urges, saying: “That’s why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent”.
Fransen has also advocated shooting Muslims and called for her opponents to be hanged.
On Wednesday, Trump retweeted her three inflammatory, unverified videos she posted to stir up hatred of Muslims, a common tactic of the far right, anti-Islam Britain First, of which Fransen is deputy leader.
The videos Trump retweeted are all in keeping with Britain First’s repeated claims
Britain First, a fringe group built around publicity stunts and social media, says that Islam is an irredeemable threat to Europe.
Trump’s action stunned Britain, with one MP calling Britain First “a fascist, racist, extremist hate group”.
For six years, the group has fought and failed to get this kind of publicity, as electoral success eluded it.
When Sadiq Khan became the first Muslim elected mayor of a major Western city last year, the Britain First candidate turned his back in protest.
Paul Golding, who is also the party’s leader, said he was protesting Islamic extremism.
It has carried out so-called “Christian Patrols” in areas with large Muslim populations, during which its members have scuffled with locals, often while repeating the myth that British cities have “no go zones”.
It has repeatedly held protests outside mosques and called Allah a “false prophet”.
Its founder Jim Dowson, a fundamentalist Christian, quit the party in 2014, saying its confrontations with Muslims were “counter-productive”.
Britain First claims to be defenders of “traditional British Christian values” and Golding has regularly invoked religious rhetoric to justify its actions.
It is often more akin to a militia than a party. Members have been pictured holding wooden “training” knives and wearing combat fatigues in the woods.
When Thomas Mair shot and stabbed MP Jo Cox to death, witnesses said the far right terrorist shouted “Britain first!”. The party said he was “categorically not a member” and denied any link.
The party is bigger on social media than at the ballot box
It has never come close to winning any elections (Golding polled just 1.2% when he stood for London mayor) but tries a build its following on sites like Facebook.
There, it publishes videos showing its leadership travelling to confront Muslims in public places and clips, like those Trump retweeted, that it claims show Muslims being violent.
It actually showed UK rapper, MoStack, defending himself with a broom as someone tried to attack him with a knife.
Its Facebook page has close to two million likes, more than any other UK party. Fransen’s personal page has 210,000.
But campaigners Hope Not Hate estimated Britain First has just 1,000 members.
Paul Golding’s attempts at notoriety
Both Golding and Fransen have were both banned from entering Luton, a town outside London where they have often demonstrated.
Golding was released from jail in January, having broken a court order not to enter a mosque, and made a video saying his time behind bars made him “more bitter”.
In the alarming clip, he predicted a “day of reckoning” and threatened “journalists and politicians” who have committed “crimes against our nation”.
He said: “I can promise you, from the very depths of my being, you will all meet your miserable ends at the hands of the Britain First movement. Every last one of you.”
Inside Jayda Fransen’s Self Promotion Machine
Fransen, who was party leader during Golding’s stint in prison, was ecstatic to receive Trump’s attention, tweeting in block capitals: “GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP! GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DONALD TRUMP, HAS RETWEETED THREE OF DEPUTY LEADER JAYDA FRANSEN’S TWITTER VIDEOS! DONALD TRUMP HIMSELF HAS RETWEETED THESE VIDEOS AND HAS AROUND 44 MILLION FOLLOWERS! GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP! GOD BLESS AMERICA! OCS @JaydaBF @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/BiQfQkTra9 — Jayda Fransen (@JaydaBF) November 29, 2017
Fransen often styles herself a crusading heroine, signing off social media posts “OCS” – Onward Christian Soldiers – and calling herself a “soldier of Christ”.
She often protests outside mosques holding a white cross.
On the London campaign trail, Fransen admonished the party’s “pro-EU, Islamist-loving opponents” for “ruining our country”, saying: “We will not rest until every traitor is punished for their crimes against our country.
“And by punished, I mean good old fashioned British justice at the end of a rope!”
Her and the party’s social media channels churn out “Jayda’s Soapbox”, a series of videos where Fransen repeats far right shibboleths about immigration and the treacherous left.
A week after her November 2016 conviction for harassing a Muslim woman, she put out a video saying: “If the presence of armed police is required to protect an innocent Christian family against Muslims in Britain, then they should be permitted to turn their guns on those Muslims.”
Fransen was charged over a speech she gave in Belfast and is due in court again on December 14.
She and Golding are also being prosecuted for religiously aggravated harassment over leaflets and videos they distributed during a rape trial of four Muslim men.
Fransen, from south east London, has a grandfather who immigrated from the Netherlands, which is problematic given her party’s manifesto proposes paying people of foreign descent to leave.
When HuffPost UK tracked Britain First
In 2015, Fransen’s bodyguards threw HuffPost UK reporter Steven Hopkins out of the party’s conference, who pushed him down a flight of stairs.
“A pin-up girl of the far right, with a mane of purple-hair and tattoos creeping out of her short skirt, suit jacket and heels,” Hopkins wrote of her.
“She made younger members of her security-detail blush when she addressed them by name… Fransen hosted most of the conference and stepped in when Golding was challenged on the wording of policies.
“She has studied law. The crowd listened to her.”
Britain First’s claims and confrontations
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/who-is-jayda-fransen-britain-first_uk_5a1e9d2be4b0d724fed4e604
I’m participating in an HIV testing clinic on my campus. Here’s why you should too.
I’m participating in an HIV testing clinic on my campus. Here’s why you should too.
Antonio E. Hernandez
When I have sex, I use a condom.
HIV can only be transmitted through certain bodily fluids. (Saliva is not one of them!) There are multiple factors that may affect your likelihood of being at risk for HIV and other STDs. In 2015, youth accounted for 22% of new diagnoses nationally, and young Black and Latinx LGBTQIA+ folks were especially affected. Since I am gay and Latino, I’m more at risk.
I’m not scared, though. I knew the guy I was with, we played safe, and I’ve been feeling great. Nonetheless, I know that some people with HIV don’t experience any symptoms at all right away, so they may have sex without knowing whether or not they’ve been infected. Commonly, folks may experience fever or vomiting, among other symptoms, within 2-4 weeks of the infection. These symptoms can last longer and people often dismiss them as the flu.
The only way to know is to get tested. There are different kinds of tests. A 4th-generation antigen test or a nucleic acid test (NAT) can give you very accurate results within a couple of weeks of the encounter. But if you want quick results, there are options available for that, too. After having sex, I waited a couple of weeks to get tested. I got a rapid test and got my results a few minutes later.
The test came out negative. The virus, however, could hide for a few months, so it’s always good to come back to your testing center and make sure your results are consistent. That’s why I’m getting tested this World AIDS Day on my college campus.
I’m getting tested because, if you’re sexually active—no matter whether you are straight or not, monogamous or not—you should get tested regularly. Knowledge is power and freedom. You should feel free to enjoy your sex life without preoccupations like being unsure about your status.
Thanks to recent advances in access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV-positive people now live longer and healthier lives. ART decreases the viral load in an HIV+ person, rendering the virus undetectable. FYI, this means that they CAN’T transmit the virus to others.
There are also ways to prevent HIV almost completely, such as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP),but preventive methods like PrEP need to be complemented by traditional methods like condoms because PrEP does not protect you from other STDs.
Despite these new advances in prevention and treatment, HIV and AIDS remain among the world’s most significant public health challenges, particularly in low and middle-income communities and countries. In 2015, 39,513 people were diagnosed with HIV in the U.S. and Texas ranked third nationally [AB1] in HIV infections. And in Central Texas, where I live, 40% of new HIV infections are in youth ages 15-29, 60% of whom don’t even know they’re infected.
This World AIDS Day (Dec.1st), AIDS Services of Austin (ASA) is coming to my college campus to provide free testing. ASA offers direct services and prevention education for everyone. In addition to assisting folks living with HIV with medical care, ASA raises awareness about HIV, since 1 in 5 people in central Texas are not aware of their HIV status . And when they do know, they’re more likely to seek out treatment.
Much of the progress we’ve made is thanks to organizations like AIDS Services of Austin, so my friends and I are fundraising money for this organization in order to keep providing essential services to my community. We know that every dollar counts, and our donations will dramatically benefit many lives.
Play safe, and know your status.
November 29, 2017
Tags:
www.glaad.org/blog/im-participating-hiv-testing-clinic-my-campus-heres-why-you-should-too
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Here’s the first trailer for the coming-of-age, coming-out story “Love, Simon”
Here’s the first trailer for the coming-of-age, coming-out story “Love, Simon”
The film is based on on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.”
Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup
Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup
Gay football fans will be warned against holding hands at the World Cup, which takes place in Russia in the summer of 2018. A group, Football Against Racism in Europe, will be producing a guide for fans highlighting possible dangers they could face.
Piara Powar, executive director of Fare, said:“The guide will advise gay people to be cautious in any place which is not seen to be welcoming to the LGBT community. The same message is there for black and ethnic minority fans – do go to the World Cup but be cautious. If you have gay fans walking down the street holding hands, will they face danger in doing so – that depends on which city they are in and the time of day.
“The guide will also include some detailed explanations of, for example, the actual situation of the LGBT community in Russia. It is not a crime to be gay but there is a law against the promotion of homosexuality to minors. Issues relating to the LGBT community are not part of the public discourse. Gay people have a place in Russia which is quite hidden and underground.”
Fare has also written to Fifa on behalf of two fans’ groups from Britain and Germany to ask for permission to raise a rainbow flag inside stadiums during the World Cup, which begins in June next year. Although political displays are banned inside stadiums it is understood the governing body would not consider rainbow flags to fall into that bracket and fans would be welcome to wave them before and during games.
This week a gay couple from the U.S. found out the dangers of not observing local laws and culture when they were arrested for exposing their rear ends for an Instagram photo at a sacred temple in Thailand.
The post Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup appeared first on Towleroad.
Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup
Trump Retweeting Britain First Only Strengthens Extremists On Both Sides
Trump Retweeting Britain First Only Strengthens Extremists On Both Sides
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, retweeted three tweets and videos from Jayda Fransen, one of the duo of far right extremists who leads Britain First. The captions on the video which Trump retweeted read “Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!”, “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” and “VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”
Trump retweeted these videos to 44million followers and, in effect, promoted the world view of Fransen and her poisonous group that Muslims, as a whole, are a potential threat to peace and stability within European communities. The statements in the videos stress Muslims on a number of occasions and provide a contextual background to viewers that people of this faith are associated with acts of violence. To some, this would read as Muslims as a whole and it is a strategy that Britain First has used time and time again in the promotion of its online extremism.
As a President who trumpets ‘fake news’, the hypocrisy of retweeting actual fake news with the Dutch video does nothing to warrant confidence in his judgement. This is a man who thankfully does not follow Jayda Fransen, yet he managed to find material from her which he recirculated. This is also a President who is supposed to be the leader of the ‘free world’ and whose values are supposedly based on protecting those very democratic rights that brought him into power. He is also a President who has put national security front and centre as part of his presidency.
Yet, by doing what he did this morning, he has presented groups like Islamic State, Al Qaeda and many Islamist extremist groups, with confirmation (in their eyes), that the West is against them and out to destroy them. We all know and realise that this Islamist narrative is used to pull people towards extremism, though when the President retweets material, he has strengthened their hands and those groups who play to a victim narrative. In essence, such actions strengthen Islamist extremist groups, weaken those Muslims working towards cohesion and integration and further radicalise others who are drawn to the easy narrative that there is yet to be a ‘clash of civilisations’.
As the founder and former director of Tell MAMA, I know full well how hate crimes are triggered by statements and national and international events. Just as Jews are targeted for hate in countries like the UK when there are military activities and assaults in the Middle East, so there are large spikes in anti-Muslim hate incidents when terrorist attacks take place in Europe, where innocent Muslims going about their everyday lives are abused, sometimes assaulted and where some mosques are also damaged.
For example, after the brutal terrorist murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013, we counted 34 mosques that reported into Tell MAMA which were attacked in 3 months after the brutal murder by Islamist extremists. Between May 2013 and June 2017, there were 167 mosques that were attacked in the UK. After the Westminster, London Bridge and Manchester terrorist attacks, there was a 250%, 456% and 312% rise in anti-Muslim hate incidents that were reported into Tell MAMA.
These sharp rises do not happen because people overnight change opinion and then decide that they are going to abuse an innocent fellow citizen who happens to be Muslim. Such incidents are a trigger for latent hatred and ill feeling towards Muslim communities, some of which no doubt, Britain First plays on, supports and feeds through its hateful material. Furthermore, today we know that the President of the United States circulates such material and certainly has amplified fake news, since one of the videos highlighted, that of a ‘Muslim migrant beating up a Dutch boy’, was untrue and inaccurate.
So, there is only one thing I want to say to Trump if he ever reads this article:
Mr President, your actions in retweeting extremist far right material strengthens the very groups you purport to want to weaken. Both you and I detest Islamist extremism and terrorism and I say that as a proud British Muslim. But where you and I will possibly diverge after today’s retweets, is that I also detest and actively challenge far right anti-Muslim groups. You on the other hand, retweet and amplify their material. I am assuming this is a mistake, but if it isn’t, can you really claim the moral high ground around tackling extremism and terrorism?
Fiyaz Mughal is the founder of Tell MAMA, and founder and director of Faith Matters
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/donald-trump-britain-first_uk_5a1ed911e4b0d52b8dc1f512
HRC Opposes Trump-Pence ‘Tax’ Scheme — Includes Dangerous Attack on Life-Saving Health Care Access
HRC Opposes Trump-Pence ‘Tax’ Scheme — Includes Dangerous Attack on Life-Saving Health Care Access
Today, the Human Rights Campaign opposed the dangerous Trump-Pence tax scheme. The bill was drafted in secret without meaningful public input and is being rushed through the Senate this week. Under the guise of this tax bill, some Republican leaders in Congress continue to play politics with people’s lives, using it as a vehicle to once again attack the Affordable Care Act and other vital health care programs.
“With provisions that undermine the Affordable Care Act and threaten programs critical to LGBTQ people, the Trump-Pence tax plan would have devastating consequences for millions of Americans,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “The Senate must reject this reckless and desperate attempt to score a legislative victory at the expense of everyday Americans.”
The Senate version of the bill repeals the ACA’s individual mandate that requires all American’s to have health insurance or pay a penalty. This provision was at the heart of the Trump-McConnell failed effort to repeal the ACA earlier this summer. Repealing the individual mandate could result in 13 million people leaving the insurance market, immediately causing insurance premiums to soar and leave millions more priced out of access to healthcare. Furthermore, the deficits triggered by the bill will also result in mandatory spending cuts to critical health programs like Medicare and Ryan White, the safety net program for people living with HIV.
Another provision that some Republicans are attempting to sneak into the final bill includes language that would undercut the Johnson amendment, allowing houses of worship to endorse or oppose candidates for public office. Such a change would allow candidates and political parties to pressure houses of worship for endorsements, transforming them into tools for their own political gain. HRC strongly opposes efforts to weaken to the prohibition on political engagement by houses of worship.
When Congress last considered tax reform legislation 31 years ago, they had 30 days of public hearings over six months. Then House members worked together for 10 months to produce a bipartisan package with 26 days of markup in committee. This time around, Republican leadership has allowed for a handful of hearings, limited public input, and barely enough time to review the hundreds of pages of tax code changes.
