Cry Babies Trump and Pence Can Dish It Out But Can't Take It

Donald Trump has a well documented history of saying whatever he wants, often in the most vulgar of ways.  For eight years Trump felt free to say any and all kinds of lies about Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Mike Pence has waged a decades long war against those who do not accept his hate and fear and fairy tale based religious beliefs. Now, they want everyone to give them respect and deference.  They can dish it out and mistreat others, but as demonstrated last night and today, they sure can't take it when other Americans exercise their right of freedom of speech and call out Pence for the nasty bigot that he is.  Neither Trump nor Pence has even been sworn into office yet and already the cry baby temper tantrums and conniption fits are on display.   What prompted Trump and Pence's rage is that the cast of the hit Broadway show, Hamilton, addressed Pence's documented bigotry and homophobia.  Many in the audience booed Pence and made their contempt for the man known.  Here's what the cast said:

“We, sir, we are the diverse America, who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,” . . . “But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us,” Dixon [who plays Aaron Burr] added, while gesturing to the musical’s diverse cast and to the audience. 

Trump - and Pence - needs to get his head out of his narcissistic and ego mad ass and understand that for as long as he is in office many of us will never respect him and will speak out loudly voicing our displeasure with him as a man and condemning his policies when they are deemed misguided.  If he can't take the heat and criticism of the presidency, he needs to resign now and do all of us and the world a favor.  Ditto for Mr. Pence.

A piece in the Washington Post reminds of Pence's horrible treatment of LGBT Americans.  Here are article highlights:

Although the Broadway cast’s message was directed broadly at what would be an administration under Trump’s presidency, Pence himself has a political track record that has been excoriated by the LGBT community. Last year, as governor of Indiana, Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act after the federal courts ruled that same-sex marriage bans in states were unconstitutional. Under the new state law, Indiana business owners could cite their religious beliefs if they didn’t want to participate in same-sex weddings. Opponents said it amounted to allowing discrimination based on sexual orientation. A week later, after facing boycotts and widespread condemnation from rights groups, Pence signed an amendment clarifying that the law could not be used to discriminate against the LGBT community.

He has a “0%” rating from the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit group that calls Pence “notoriously anti-LGBTQ” when he was chosen to be Trump’s running mate. Republican Chrys Kefalas outlined Pence’s anti-LGBT record in a guest column for The Washington Post:

During his public career, Pence has been an outspoken opponent of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. In Congress, he opposed efforts to encourage foreign governments to decriminalize homosexuality and sought to block the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. As a governor, he stood against not only marriage equality, but civil unions as well. He also opposed a law prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace and signed one opening the door to wide-ranging discrimination against these residents of his own state under the guise of religious liberty.

None of this was lost on the audience, who greeted Pence’s arrival to his prime orchestra seat with a mix of cheers and boos, according to the AP.

Proposition 8 Donors Challenge Campaign Finance Laws

UPDATED: As a reader commented, I agree that death threats are not acceptable behavior on any account. I would add, however, that give the extreme dishonesty of the Christianist organizations, I believe that (1) claims of death threats should be checked out and confirmed to not be contrived threats from Christianist allies so that the Christianist/Mormons can play the role of victims (2) there are no reports of physical violence against anti-gay bigots while in contrast LGBT citizens are being physically attacked and in some cases killed as a result of the toxic lies put out by the professional Christian set which create a mindset where violence against gays is acceptable. In short, the Christianists/Mormons can dish it out, but as soon as they have it boomerang back on them they are cry babies. Here are a few highlights from a further Associated Press story on the lawsuit:

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The secretary of state's office and another defendant, the state's Fair Political Practices Commission, declined to comment Thursday on the lawsuit. But Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, the gay rights group that led the campaign against Proposition 8, called it hypocritical for supporters of the measure to try to overturn voter-approved campaign finance laws.

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He said Proposition 8 supporters used campaign finance records during the campaign to threaten gay rights supporters."They've used these records to attack corporations, to attack individuals," Kors said.

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Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, which supports public access to government records and meetings, said the lawsuit is likely to be unsuccessful. He said courts have consistently failed to agree that contributors have a right to donate directly and anonymously to a candidate or campaign. He said some states have less restrictive reporting requirements, but they always include disclosure of donors.

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Obviously preferring to keep their anti-gay bigotry cloaked in secrecy, some of the Christianists/Mormons who bank rolled the effort to pass Proposition 8 have filled a federal lawsuit challenging California's campaign finance laws which requires that donors' names over a certain amount be made public so that the public knows who is trying to influence legislation. Here in Virginia, the thresh hold for donors being identified in campaign finance reports is $100.00. Personally, I believe that if someone is afraid to be identified with the causes and issues they support, then perhaps they ought not make a contribution. Not so with the Christianist/Mormon cry babies. Not only are they liars, but now we know that they are cowards as well who want to be able to anonymously take away the civil rights of other citizens. Such a system of anonymous donors is frightening and dangerous for democracy. No doubt they'd like to bring back courts of Star Chamber for gays and other minorities they don't like as well. Hopefully, the court will summarily throw out the lawsuit. Here are some highlights from the Sacramento Bee:

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The Proposition 8 campaign has filed a federal suit challenging the constitutionality of California's campaign finance laws that compel disclosure of personal information by campaign donors who they said have been threatened and harassed.

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The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, cites numerous examples of menacing e-mails, phone calls and postcards, including death threats, allegedly made by opponents of the November ballot measure that banned same-sex measure in the state.

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"This harassment is made possible because of California's unconstitutional campaign finance disclosure rules," Ron Prentice, chairman of the Yes on 8 campaign, said in a prepared statement.

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Prentice noted that as applied to ballot measure committees, "even donors of as little as $100 must have their names, home addresses and employers listed on public documents."

Proposition 8 -- Boycott Cry Babies

The Los Angeles Times has yet another semi-whining op-ed piece that in places almost asks readers to feel sorry for Mormon extremists who consciously gave money in support of Proposition 8 and who now do not want to take the heat that their contributions have now brought home to roost upon them. Actions have consequences and I hold little sympathy for those who donated money to deprive other citizens of legal civil rights and who are cry babies when they and/or businesses in which they hold management positions end up as targets of boycotts. First, their donations make it clear that they hold the concept of freedom of religion for others in contempt. Second, they are apparently not very bright if they thought that their deeds would never be discovered. That they believe that their excuse of "religious belief" should buy them a free pass is utterly unacceptable. Here are some highlights:

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For all the complaints (mainly coming from the Yes-on-8 campaign), boycotts against corporations or organizations are a time-honored method of expressing opinions and pushing for social or political change. But in the superheated Proposition 8 debate, this venerable tactic has occasionally been used in ugly ways.

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[P]ost election boycott efforts by the other side -- defenders of same-sex marriage -- have expanded into a vengeful campaign against individuals who donated to the gay-marriage ban, usually in the form of pressure on their employers. At least two people have resigned from their jobs and a third is considering it, including the artistic director of a stage company in Sacramento and a manager at an L.A. eatery. . . . there's nothing to cheer about when private individuals are afraid to donate to the political campaigns of their choice because it may cost them their livelihood.

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Owners and officers of companies aren't just private individuals; they must accept that their political actions will reflect on the organizations they head and act accordingly. But a heated debate about a basic right -- in this case, the right to marry whom one chooses -- must also consider the rights of citizens to vote and donate without intimidation.