TEXAS: AG Ken Paxton Ordered To Appear In Court Over Marriage Recognition

The San Antonio Express-News reports:

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia has ordered Texas officials to appear in court next week to determine if the state should be held in contempt for failing to recognize same-sex marriage. Garcia issued the order Wednesday in response to a request from a Conroe police officer who says the Texas Department of Health and Human Services refused to amend his spouse’s death certificate to reflect he was married. The death certificate lists him as single. Garcia instructed the state on Wednesday to immediately amend the death certificate of James Stone-Hoskins to add John Allen Stone-Hoskins as the surviving spouse. John Stone-Hoskins, a former police officer who lives in Conroe and is dying from cancer, asked Garcia to hold the department and the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in contempt. Garcia ordered Paxton to appear before this Court next Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Paxton was arrested and booked on multiple felony securities fraud charges on Monday.

More Transploitation

(Via Mediaite)

Donald Trump Gives Out Lindsey Graham's Personal Number During Press Conference

Reporters are saying that calls to the number are going directly to voicemail. Well, sure. NOW they do.

Ben Shapiro Vs Trans Reporter

Ben Shapiro really got into it with trans reporter Zoey Tur last night. Mediaite reports:

Asked by host Dr. Drew Pinsky whether Jenner deserved the ESPY award after “courageously coming forward, for having been an athlete of great prowss, and now fighting a new battle,” Shapiro spilled his disdain for the entire concept of transgenderism: “What exactly is the battle? I mean, self-definition is what you do, and my baby’s doing it at 18 months old. I was unaware that you get a medal for it.” And when Shapiro refused to call Jenner and Tur by anything but male pronouns, the segment went straight down the tubes. “Forget about the disrespect,” Shapiro said, in the full clip first reported by Breitbart.

“Facts don’t care about your feelings. It turns out that every chromosome, every cell in Caitlyn Jenner’s body, is male, with the exception of some of his sperm cells.” We both know chromosomes don’t necessarily mean you’re male or female,” Tur replied, and then put her hand on Shapiro’s shoulder. “So you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re not educated on genetics.” That prompted Shapiro to ask: “What are your genetics, sir?” And off we go. “You cut that out now, or you’ll go home in an ambulance,” Tur shot back while holding Shapiro by the back of his neck.

The battle continues from there. Shapiro has spent the day tweeting and retweeting ugly anti-trans messages including the usual rainbow swastika flag from fellow Breitbart knuckledragger John Nolte. The headline above is from Raw Story.

Butch War Veteran Slams Sissy Obama

Hey Todd Starnes - I have an idea...why don't you use a photo from this century?

Humor Fail From Catholic Vote

Still stinging from national ridicule over its Not Alone video, Catholic Vote tries to make a funny: 

The Catholic owners of “Joe’s Hardware” in Atchison, Kansas are defending themselves against a federal lawsuit that accuses them of violating equal protection laws because they refused to sell a same-sex extension cord to a customer last month. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is Flip Rosco, a poodle trainer from Greenwich Village. During a press conference announcing the lawsuit, Mr. Rosco caused some initial confusion when he was asked what he was doing in Atchison in the first place. “Looking for a Catholic hardware store to sue,” he proclaimed, to a few raised eyebrows. “Love wins,” he quickly added, which seemed to satisfy the assembled crowd. Joe and Abby Smith, the owners of the family-run hardware business and long-time members at St. Agnes, the local parish, were caught completely off guard by the allegations. The Smiths are adamant that they didn’t discriminate against anyone.

A poodle trainer from Greenwich Village. Oh my sides.

KANSAS: State Agencies Hold Back Marriage Recognition As Brownback Considers New Religious Liberty Bill

It's almost one full week after Obergefell and Kansas remains the lone purple holdout in Wikipedia's otherwise all-sapphire marriage map. Here's why, via the Kansas City Star:

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback said Thursday that he’s considering proposing a new religious objections law for Kansas following the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of gay marriage, and he defended his administration’s cautious response to the ruling. Same-sex couples can obtain marriage licenses in all 105 Kansas counties, but the state is not allowing gay and lesbian spouses to change their names on driver’s licenses, nor has it said whether couples can file joint income tax returns. The state has not extended coverage to gay spouses under its health insurance plan for government workers. The conservative governor said the state will move “as expeditiously as we can” to make changes, but he didn’t have a timetable. “You have to understand and get the mechanisms in place,” he told reporters. “We’ve had meetings with the attorney general, with the relevant Cabinet agencies. We want to make sure to do this right.” Asked whether he’d outline a proposal for legislators next year, Brownback said, “We’re looking at that.” Lawmakers are out of session for the year. “We want to make sure that people’s religious liberties are protected,” he said.

Last year's attempt to install a RFRA bill in Kansas failed to pass. (Tipped by JMG reader Adam)

LOUSIANA: Bobby Jindal Blocks State Recognition Of Same-Sex Marriage

SCOTUS has ruled, the Fifth Circuit has ruled, but Bobby Jindal just doesn't care.

Gov. Bobby Jindal delayed -- for the second time -- the recognition of same-sex marriage by the Louisiana state government on Wednesday evening. The governor refused to let Louisiana agencies acknowledge same-sex marriage following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last Friday. At the time, he said he was waiting for a lower appeals court to affirm the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, before moving forward with same-sex marriage recognition in Louisiana. But now that the lower appeals court confirmed Louisiana's same-sex marriage ban has been overturned, Jindal has decided Louisiana same-sex couples need to wait for yet another court's decision. "Our agencies will follow the Louisiana Constitution until the District Court orders us otherwise," said Mike Reed, Jindal's spokesman in the governor's office.

In its opinion released Wednesday evening, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made it clear that Louisiana's same-sex marriage ban no longer applies, though it technically sent a same-sex marriage case back to a U.S. District court for reversal. Jindal is saying the state government won't recognize same-sex marriage until the District Court issues its own decision. The appeals court gave the district court until until July 17 to make a new ruling, though it has encouraged the district court to do so earlier. One of the plaintiffs in the case, Robert Welles, is in declining health. "I wait every day for a phone call," said the 52-year-old Welles. "The way I see it, we started this thing in New Orleans, and we want to finish it in New Orleans." But Kyle Duncan, a lawyer working for Louisiana and the Jindal administration, said it makes sense for state agencies to wait to recognize same-sex marriage until the district court ruling. "The court made it crystal clear," he said. "It's when the district court renders final judgment."

You'd almost think that Jindal is hoping that the plaintiff will die before his marriage is recognized.

Todd Starnes Prays To God: Please Attack Obama With Plagues Of Insects

Ben Shapiro Mocks Caitlyn Jenner

Matt Barber: Call Me Mrs. Wiggles

"Hold on. Courage, Matt, courage. Breathe. OK, I'm ready. This is it. I'm coming out. I want the world to know. I'm a black, lesbian platypus trapped in a white, straight guy's body. This is my truth. It's my experience. It's how I identify. It's my reality (actual reality notwithstanding). Transracial, transgender and transpecies lives matter (#TransLivesMatter), and I'm declaring myself an out and proud member of the LGBTTT community. Crazy, you say? Don't judge me, hater. This is my race-species-gender identity and expression, whether real or perceived, and if you refuse to play along, then you're violating my civil rights. This is my struggle. I demand admission to the wrong bathrooms and showers, the right to play for the other sports teams and unfettered access to your children so I can indoctrinate them till they can't see straight, or I'll ruin you. Identify me by whichever stupid pronoun I invent, you cisgender, cisracial, cisspecies bigot, or I'll glitter bomb you so bad that you'll be slightly inconvenienced. Call me Mrs. Wiggles." - Hate group leader Matt Barber, writing for Charisma News.

RELATED: Three times in recent months Barber has published columns by open advocates of the death penalty for homosexuality.

Teabagger Headline Of The Day

Teabagger blogger Jim Hoft even gets the killer's name wrong in the headline. Last month Hoft received the Breitbart Award For Excellence In Online Journalism. Seriously. (Hit the link for another laugh.)

Mike Huckabee: If Only Somebody In That Church Had Been Carrying A Gun Too

Todd Starnes writes at Fox News:

President Obama had a moment to bring healing to the nation, but he chose to play politics instead, using the terrible massacre in Charleston to call for a crackdown on guns. Everything with this administration is about politics. Everything. Gov. Mike Huckabee told me he was disappointed with President Obama’s “grandstanding.” “All the proposals this president has put forward on gun control would not have stopped this shooting,” he said. According to the GOP presidential candidate, one thing might have stopped the tragedy: A pistol-packing church-goer. “The one thing that would have at least ameliorated the horrible situation in Charleston would have been if somebody in that prayer meeting had a conceal carry or (if) there had been an off duty policeman somebody with the legal authority to carry a firearm and could have stopped the shooter," Huckabee said.

UPDATE: Right Wing Watch has the video.

Huckabee Doubles-Down: I Take Nothing Back From That Anti-Trans Speech

"I take nothing back from that speech. I’m kind of glad it’s posted because people, if they watch the whole clip, what they’re going to see is that I’m giving a commonsense answer to the insanity that’s going on out there. Because I hear people, everybody wants to be politically correct, everybody wants to be loved by the media and loved by the left and loved by the elitists. But, you know, I know I’m not going to be, so let’s just get it over with. I’d rather be a commonsense candidate for people who did take their brains to work today." - Mike Huckabee, doubling down on his statement that he wishes he'd pretended to be transgender is high school so that he could have showered with girls.

Petition Calls For IOC To Revoke Olympic Gold Medals From Caitlyn Jenner

From the petition:

Dear International Olympic Committee, It has recently come to light that gold medalist Bruce Jenner is in fact transgender, and therefore, identifies as a woman. We congratulate Ms. Jenner on these new developments and wish her the best. However, this creates somewhat of a problem as Ms. Jenner (as talented as she is) claims that she has always believed herself to be truly female, and therefore, was in violation of committee rules regarding women competing in men's sports and vice versa. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we must ask whether or not it is proper that Ms. Jenner should retain her Olympic records in light of this, as we must now either claim that Bruce Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner are two entirely different people (which we know is not true), or that Bruce Jenner was, in fact, a woman participating in a men's event. It is only fair to all involved that women receive their credit as champions of the Decathalon and that the men racing Ms. Jenner are not expected to compete with a superior, streamlined being such as herself.

The petition has about 9500 signatures at this writing. (Tipped by JMG reader Mark)

GEORGIA: Man Parades 100-Round AR-15 Rifle Through Atlanta Airport Because "Something Might Happen"

Via Atlanta's CBS affiliate:

A man carrying a rifle inside the Atlanta airport wasn’t breaking any laws, but he did raise a few eyebrows, including those of some Atlanta police officers. Jim Cooley says he carried his gun through the terminal when he and his wife went to drop his daughter off for her flight. He says he knew he wasn’t breaking any rules because he has a full understanding of Georgia’s gun laws. “You can carry in unsecured areas of the airport. Past TSA, never,” Cooley said.

That’s exactly what he did. Cooley carried his AR-15 fully loaded with a 100-round drum through parts of the terminal. Cooley says as he and his wife began to leave the airport the APD officer stopped him again and radioed to others that he was carrying an automatic weapon. Cooley says he was then followed to his car by a police lieutenant and two officers, who took pictures of their car. “It shouldn’t matter what I carry, just that I choose to carry,” Cooley said. “You never know where something might happen. If you don’t exercise your rights, the government doesn’t have any hesitation taking them away."

Last year Georgia legalized the open carrying of loaded guns in airports.

Fox Host Jokingly Compares Hillary Clinton Campaign To Amtrak Train Disaster

Viral Video Of The Day

The guy with the sunglasses just got fired.

Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)

Walmart Apologizes For Refusing To Write "Gay" On Cake For Gay/Str8 Prom Couple

Walmart officials in Las Vegas have apologized after staffers refused to write the word "gay" on a cake ordered for the nationally famous gay/str8 prom couple.

Jennifer Sandoval, who's the aunt of teen Anthony Martinez, says she's overjoyed at all the positive attention her nephew has gotten after his promposal went viral. His straight best friend, Jacob Lescenski, asked him to prom after not getting another date. Sandoval said she went to her local Walmart store on Saturday, located near Nellis and Las Vegas boulevards, to get him a surprise cake to celebrate before the dance.  "It said: 'You're gay, he's straight, you're going to prom, you couldn't have had a better date,'” Sandoval said. Sandoval said the initial associate told her she couldn't write that on the cake because it included the word "gay," and that was against store policy. She then asked to speak with a supervisor. "Supervisor takes my phone, looks at it, and was like stuck for a minute, and she was like, 'OK, I'm sorry, we can't use this'. And then I said, 'I'm going to ask you what I asked her because you're the supervisor. Why can't I use this? I don't understand. It's one word. It's gay,'" Sandoval said.

A spokesman for Walmart says they have no policy against the word "gay" and hope to make it up to Sandoval, who says it's too late now. She left the store with the cake seen above. The refusal was mentioned in the video posted yesterday by Teen Vogue.