Trans Teen Lands Reality Show

Via the Hollywood Reporter:

TLC is becoming the latest network to explore transgender life. The cable network has handed out a straight-to-series order for All That Jazz, a docuseries following 14-year-old transgender activist Jazz Jennings, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The 11-episode series will feature Jennings — dubbed "The New Face of Transgender Youth" — in her daily life, juggling her foray into high school while navigating how a transgender teen approaches dating and sleepovers all while avoiding male puberty. Jennings, who has been featured on 20/20, The Rosie Show and was named one of the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014 by Time magazine, was assigned male at birth. Jennings — who also wrote children's book I Am Jazz with Jessica Herthel about living as a transgender teen — expressed her desire for all things typically associated with girls at an early age.

The show will debut this summer.

David Axelrod: Obama Was "Bullshitting" When He Said He Opposed Gay Marriage

Former White House advisor David Axelrod claims that President Obama lied about his opposition to same-sex marriage in order to help his 2008 election chances. Axelrod makes the claim in his new book.

“I’m just not very good at bullshitting,” Obama told Axelrod, after an event where he stated his opposition to same-sex marriage, according to the book. Axelrod writes that he knew Obama was in favor of same-sex marriages during the first presidential campaign, even as Obama publicly said he only supported civil unions, not full marriages. Axelrod also admits to counseling Obama to conceal that position for political reasons. “Opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he grudgingly accepted the counsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his position to support civil unions rather than marriage, which he would term a ‘sacred union,’ ” Axelrod writes.

According to Axelrod, in early 2012 the president was pressuring aides to find a way for him to express support for same-sex marriage even though analysts told him it could cost him a win in North Carolina. Five months later that opening presented itself via Joe Biden's now-famous Meet The Press declaration, which some believe was carefully planned in advance. Teabagistan is reacting to Axelrod's claim in predictable fashion.

Rick Perry Remix

Via Memeographs.

Tea Party Nation: One Million Democrats Voted Twice In The 2012 Election

Here's some amusing crackpottery from Judson Phillips, head of Tea Party Nation, who has some "shocking news" about the 2012 election.

A study done in North Carolina showed that 35,750 people who live and voted in North Carolina may have voted in another state in the 2012 Presidential election. The study was based on comparing the first and last names along with date of birth for people who voted in 28 other states. In 765 of those cases, social security numbers matched as well. This number would have probably been larger but only 28 states participated and the four largest states, California, New York, Texas and Florida did not participate. If you extrapolate this figure out over the entire population, that could be over one million double votes in 2012. Democrats are not winning elections. They are taking them the old fashioned way. They are stealing them.

Right Wing Watch dryly notes:

North Carolina used a program run by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, which even Kobach acknowledges produces a “significant number” of “false positives.” Officials using the program in Ohio and Colorado failed to identify a single case of fraudulent voting from the “matches” that the program produced. Even the North Carolina elections board has backtracked from its original blockbuster number, telling ThinkProgress that “we are not jumping to conclusions here.” In other words, North Carolina’s report contains no proof of any voter fraud, much less 35,000 cases of it. But never mind the facts! Phillips then “extrapolate[s]” the North Carolina figure “out over the entire population” to guess that there “could be over one million double votes in 2012,” thereby winning President Obama the election. (Of course, in Phillips’ reckoning, all of these imaginary cases of voter fraud were perpetrated by Democrats – although they still weren’t enough to win North Carolina for the president).

A million people conspired to vote twice and never gave away the identities of the organizers. That there's some good conspiring, I tells you what.

RELATED: When Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed that "religious liberty" bill in February, Phillips declared that "Arizonans are now the slaves of homosexuals."

Eugene Delgaudio Claims Partial Victory In SPLC Lawsuit Over Gay Marriage Photo

Back in 2012, Virginia-based anti-gay crackpot Eugene Delgaudio lifted the above wedding photo from the blog of a New Jersey gay couple, replaced the New York City skyline backdrop with snow-covered trees, and used the image for a flyer that attacked a pro-gay marriage candidate for the Colorado state Senate. After first sending an cease-and-desist order, in September of that year the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against Delgaudio.

This morning Delgaudio issued a triumphant press release which opens by declaring that he has won his motion to dismiss on one of the suit's two claims.

Yesterday, Monday, March 31, in Denver, Colorado, senior federal district judge Wiley Y. Daniel dismissed with prejudice one of two claims brought against Public Advocate by two homosexuals represented by lawyers from the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC"). SPLC lawyers had demanded a large money judgment for Public Advocate's use of a photograph of those two homosexuals in a mailing against pro-homosexual candidates for state office. The judge ruled for Public Advocate, finding that it had no commercial purpose in using the photograph, as it was involved in an important exercise of its First Amendment rights with respect to a controversial issue in the context of an election. The candidates opposed by Public Advocate were defeated in that election. The court ruled that "Public Advocate['s] actions are evidence that same-sex marriage can at the very least be considered as relating to political concerns of the community. Therefore, I find that the mailers reasonably relate to a matter of public concern."

While the judge did dismiss one portion of the suit, he ruled that the portion of the suit which claims copyright infringement may continue.

After careful consideration of the matters before this Court, it is ORDERED that Public Advocate’s Motion To Dismiss Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint [ECF No. 101] and NAGR, Rocky Mountain, O’Dell, Andrew Brown, and Dudley Brown’s Motion To Dismiss The First Amended Complaint [ECF No. 106] are GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The motions are GRANTED to the extent that the First Amendment bars the Plaintiffs’ Colorado state law appropriation of name or likeness tort claim, and that claim is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. The motions are DENIED to the extent that Public Advocate and the Defendants seek dismissal of the Plaintiffs’ copyright infringement claim based on the fair use doctrine.

The 18-page ruling is here. These things tend to make my eyes cross, so perhaps some legal eagles here on JMG can dig in and tell us what may happen next. Delguadio, of course, has issued a money beg to continue his defense.

TRAILER: Fred

A documentary about the 2012 campaign of Fred Karger.

NEW YORK: Wingnut Dinesh D'Souza Indicted For Campaign Finance Fraud

Christian activist and Breitbart hero Dinesh D'Souza, whose 2012 movie 2016: Obama's America grossed $33M, has been indicted on federal charges of campaign finance fraud.

D’Souza, an author and the former president of King’s College, is accused of “causing $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions to be made to a candidate for the U.S. Senate in calendar year 2012,” according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He is also charged with causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission. “As we have long said, this office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “If, as alleged, the defendant directed others to make contributions to a Senate campaign and reimbursed them, that is a serious violation of federal campaign finance laws.”

D'Souza reportedly gave money to others to support Wendy Long's failed campaign against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. His lawyer claims the it was "an act of misguided friendship." D'Souza was fired by King's College last year after he appeared at an event with his "fiance" while still married to another woman. The Christian school took a dim view of that.

NOM: Gay Marriage Is A Vote Loser

Posted today to NOM's blog:

In England, a recent report showed that nearly two-thirds of MP's believe that supporting gay 'marriage' is a 'vote loser.' And reports from local Conservative associations show a rapid decline in membership, with gay marriage seen as one of the reasons. Now even the Prime Minister, David Cameron, is saying that he regrets "forcing" marriage redefinition through the Parliament. The same can be said in America. Despite the droning drumbeat of the mainstream media, nearly two-thirds – 65 percent – of Americans disapprove of redefining marriage. During the November 2012 elections, true marriage out-polled the Romney campaign in all four states marriage was on the ballot – by double digit margins! It seems English politicians have already learned what the GOP in America – and all its candidates – need to grasp. Defending marriage as one man and one woman is a winning issue at the polls.

FACT CHECK: Aside from the inconvenient truth that equal marriage WON in all four of those states, Cameron has denied making those claims of "regret."

Complaint By Fred Karger Triggers FEC Investigation Of Rick Santorum

Former GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger, the eternal thorn in the backside of NOM, has struck again.

The Federal Election Commission is asking former presidential candidate Rick Santorum, Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats and an anti-gay marriage organization to tell the agency why it should not investigate an allegation that they violated campaign finance limits during the last election. The complaint, brought by Fred Karger, a gay rights activist who ran a quixotic campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, accuses Santorum of coordinating with the National Organization for Marriage to pay $1 million to Vander Plaats to endorse him, with the money eventually going for ads backing Santorum. That would be a violation of campaign finance law. The move by the FEC is routine when a complaint meets basic requirements. In June, the FEC sent letters to Karger and the accused: Santorum, Vander Plaats and NOM. The three now can respond to the FEC with reasons why it should not investigate the matter. "This letter signals the beginning of the beginning," said Craig Engle a campaign finance attorney at Arent Fox who is not connected to the case.

Back in December 2011, I noted that Progress Iowa had made a similar demand that the FEC look into reports that Vander Plaats had demanded a $1M payoff to endorse Santorum. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

VIRGINA: Democrats Issue Attack Ad Against Gov Candidate Ken Cuccinelli

97% Of Marriage Backers Got Re-Elected

Here's a nifty little stat that NOM will surely ignore.

Based on election results in the two states that passed freedom to marry laws in the 2011-2012 legislative cycle and whose members stood for reelection — New York and Washington — the analysis, “Pro-Marriage Legislators Win Elections,” finds that pro-marriage legislators who ran for reelection won 97% of the time. This is significantly higher than the national incumbent re-election average of 90% in 2012.

HRC: Stick A Fork In NOM

The Human Rights Campaign today issued a press release roundly mocking NOM for their failures to make good on their threats.  An excerpt:

Opponents’ financing is drying up. They were outspent almost three to one last year, $12 million to $34 million in the ballot campaigns. More broadly, tax documents obtained by HRC last fall show that NOM’s funding declined by one-third for 2011 – and that a whopping 75 percent of the anti-gay organization’s funding came from just two donors. It’s not surprising then that NOM is unable to follow through on the threats the group makes to Republicans supportive of marriage equality.

NOM promised, for instance, that it would spend $2 million to defeat the four Republican State Senators in New York who backed the legislature’s same-sex marriage bill in 2011. NOM then backpedalled, saying it would spend $250,000 in the primary fights. According to NOM PAC NY’s campaign finance reports, it only raised $45,000 and only spent $40,000 in 2012 – nowhere near what it claimed it would spend.

Beyond funding, NOM’s pressure campaigns – which the group insists have been successful - have produced little return on investment. A new HRC fact check piece makes clear the effort to oust the four Republicans strictly because of their votes on marriage did not work. “NOM’s threats to kick Republicans out of office – whether in New York two years ago or in Illinois earlier this month - are empty,” said Nix. “It’s nothing but bluster aimed to instill fear in lawmakers. NOM’s become nothing but a paper tiger.”

Read HRC's debunking of NOM's claims about the 2012 NY Senate elections.

Headline Of The Day

Details.

Crazy Eyes Owes Staff Money

Staffers from Crazy Eyes' presidential campaign say they never got all of the pay that is owed them.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is refusing to pay five Iowa staffers and asking that they sign non-disclosure agreements, a former campaign aide has alleged. Peter Waldron, who served as Bachmann’s national field coordinator, says that the former employees were repeatedly told they would be paid. But long after the campaign ended, still without their payments, he says they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prohibit them from discussing any immoral, unethical or criminal behavior with the media, the police or an attorney. “This agreement came out of left field,” he said. “I’m disappointed,” Waldron said. “Working with her, I know her to be a person of good faith. However, I also know that she is surrounded by what the Bible says is men of lesser sorts.”

(Tipped by JMG reader John)

Another 2012 In Review Clip

There have been a lot of these, of course, but this one I quite like.

Quote Of The Day - Maureen Dowd

"The Mayans were right, as it turns out, when they predicted the world would end in 2012. It was just a select world: the G.O.P. universe of arrogant, uptight, entitled, bossy, retrogressive white guys. Just another vanishing tribe that fought the cultural and demographic tides of history. Someday, it will be the subject of a National Geographic special, or a Mel Gibson movie, where archaeologists piece together who the lost tribe was, where it came from, and what happened to it.

The experts will sift through the ruins of the Reagan Presidential Library, Dick Cheney’s shotgun casings, Orca poll monitoring hieroglyphics, remnants of triumphal rants by Dick Morris on Fox News, faded photos of Clint Eastwood and an empty chair, and scraps of ancient tape in which a tall, stiff man, his name long forgotten, gnashes his teeth about the 47 percent of moochers and the 'gifts' they got. Instead of smallpox, plagues, drought and Conquistadors, the Republican decline will be traced to a stubborn refusal to adapt to a world where poor people and sick people and black people and brown people and female people and gay people count." - Maureen Dowd, writing for the New York Times.

More From Yesterday's PPP Poll

Yesterday Public Policy Polling tweeted that 25% of Republicans want their state to secede. Here's another tidbit from their poll:

49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore. One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.

Bolding is mine.

American Family Association: GOP Should Just Give Up On Black & Hispanic Voters

Dianne Feinstein Breaks Election Record

Politico notes a little bit of election trivia regarding Sen. Dianne Feinstein:

Dianne Feinstein is the most popular senator in U.S. history. If you measure by votes won, that is. The latest, semi-official tally from the California secretary of state reports the Democratic senator won nearly 7.3 million votes on Nov. 6, breaking the previous Senate record held by her colleague, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. Feinstein won 7,297,972 votes on Election Day – 342,244 more votes than Boxer in her 2004 re-election romp.

As Politico notes, Senators elected from California will always have the highest vote count.

It's About Love

The music for this celebratory clip (another one!) is San Francisco by The Mowgli's. Their five-song EP is now available on iTunes.