May 23rd, 2015 5:26 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
NBC News reports on the Irish vote, with scenes of people rejoicing outside Dublin Castle, which I was waiting for all morning.
At final count, 62 percent voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage in the country, while 38 percent voted against it. Nearly 2 million people voted, with more than 1.2 million voting “yes” and 734,300 voting “no.”
A celebratory mood had come over Dublin even before the official results were announced around 7 p.m. local time, with tallies for each constituency displayed on big screens to thousands watching from Dublin Castle’s sun-soaked central square.
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Sisters Rebecca and Rachel Doyle from Enniscorthy, County Wexford, were among 2,000 members of the public allowed to view the counting process
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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB, Irish referendum
May 23rd, 2015 11:36 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Now for a downer; sorry.
Heather Hironimus has been forced (by a threat of prison) to sign the permission slip for her four-year-old son to get his penis snipped against his will.
With handcuffs on her wrists and tears rolling down her cheeks, Heather Hironimus looked up to the courtroom ceiling, briefly clasped her hands together in prayer, and finally picked up her attorney’s pen.
The 31-year-old West Boynton [mother] — jailed since May 14 for defying a judge’s custody order and refusing to let her 4 1/2-year-old son be circumcised — gave her consent to the procedure wanted by the boy’s [father], Dennis Nebus, of Boca Raton.
Because of the boy’s age, the snipping requires general anesthesia – which … Read the rest
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB
May 23rd, 2015 11:01 am |
By Ophelia Benson
And it’s official official at last – they had to wait for Cork to finish counting, while all of Twitter yelled at Cork to hurry up.
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18:55 Ireland becomes the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote.
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18:51 Returning Officer Ríona Ní Fhlanghaile declares that Ireland has passed the same-sex marriage referendum by 1,201,607 votes (62.1%) to 734,300 (37.9%).
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18:35 The end is nigh! The returning officer for Cork North West/South West/East says two of three results are with Dublin Castle and the third is on the way in minutes.
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB
May 23rd, 2015 10:21 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Mike Huckabee on Josh Duggar and the Duggar family:
Janet and I want to affirm our support for the Duggar family. Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, ‘inexcusable,’ but that doesn’t mean ‘unforgivable.’ He and his family dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities. No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story. Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things. The reason that the law protects disclosure of many actions on the part of a minor is that the society has traditionally understood something that today’s
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: Duggars, FTB
May 23rd, 2015 9:29 am |
By Ophelia Benson
RTÉ’s live count.
17:13 Result for Dublin North: Yes 72.61% No 27.39%. That is 34,494 Yes votes and 13,009 No votes. A margin of 21,485. The turnout is 65.83%.
17:02 Result from Dublin North Central: Yes 68.95% No 31.05%. That is 25,382 Yes votes and 11,431 No votes. A margin of 13,951. The turnout is 68.85%.
Result from Dublin Central: Yes 72.37% No 27.63%. That is 23,861 Yes votes and 9,108 No votes. A margin of 14,753. The turnout is 57.98%.
16:51 Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said the social revolution that Minister Leo Varadkar spoke about earlier has been going on for some time. He said the Catholic Church needs a reality check.
In so many … Read the rest
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB
May 23rd, 2015 8:54 am |
By Ophelia Benson
The Guardian says a Yes vote is certain – which is sort of obvious given the numbers, but still worth hearing. It’ll be official in a bit over an hour, at 6 p.m Irish time, apparently.
Henry McDonald
At the start of the referendum campaign a 67-year-old veteran politician finally outed himself as gay for the cause of the Yes campaign. Pat Carey, a former parliamentarian for Fianna Fail, told the Guardian two months ago that he came out to convince those of his generation and rural background that it was ok to be gay.
Turning up at Dublin Castle, Carey said of the result: “It means everything for myself and people like me. It’s a gigantic step along the
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB, Irish referendum
May 23rd, 2015 7:54 am |
By Ophelia Benson
The BBC says the yes side seems to be winning.
Government ministers have said they believe it will pass, while prominent “no” campaigners have conceded defeat.
Counting started at 09:00 BST on Saturday morning. An “unusually high” turnout has been reported.
A result is expected late afternoon on Saturday.
The Indy says the no side has conceded.
The Republic of Ireland appears set to become the first country to introduce same-sex marriage by a popular vote, especially now since the ‘no’ campaign appears to have conceded.
David Quinn, of the Iona Institute and ‘No’ campaign tweeted a concession and congratulations to the ‘Yes’ campaign amid widespread reports of a landslide.
A landslide!
Congratulations Ireland!
… Read the rest
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB
May 22nd, 2015 6:14 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
The SPLC has a dossier on the Family Research Council, former employers of Josh Duggar.
The Family Research Council (FRC) bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, the FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed the FRC to
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: Duggars, FTB
May 22nd, 2015 5:40 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Think Progress collects Josh Duggar’s nine most sanctimonious moments as Executive Director of the Family Research Council. (Mr Family Values, that guy – grope your sisters, they’re Family.)
1. When Josh Duggar argued that an LGBT nondiscrimination measure in Arkansas jeopardized the safety of children:
Enacting additional laws that are trying to protect one group of people over another is not really the solution and in fact it has the inverse effect on others…We have to make sure we’re standing up to protect the rights of privacy and protecting the well-being of women and children in our cities.
Yeah baby. Keep the poofters from molesting our women and children. Don’t let them marry, because then they might have a straight … Read the rest
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: Duggars, FTB
May 22nd, 2015 5:26 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Mark Joseph Stern at Slate points out the undeniable, that Josh Duggar’s horrible ignorant benighted fanatical parents made him what he is. Yes, indeed they did.
A boy grows up in a controlling, cultlike family that rejects Enlightenment values and closes off much of the outside world. He is deprived of any conception of morality separate from a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. His intellectual and ethical development is stunted by reactionary, dogmatic views about gender and sexuality. He is told that women were made to be subservient to men, to be obedient to their masters. How should we react when it comes to light that this boy repeatedly molested young girls?
With rage at his parents and the … Read the rest
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: Duggars, FTB
May 22nd, 2015 4:40 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Unbelievable.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas police have destroyed a record outlining a nearly decade-old investigation into reality TV star Josh Duggar, a spokesman said Friday, a day after the 27-year-old resigned his role with a prominent conservative Christian group amid reports about sexual misconduct allegations from when he was a juvenile.
“Sexual misconduct” is putting it a great deal too politely. The allegations are that he groped his younger sisters.
The reports are also that his parents did nothing about it, and that his sisters were expected to “forgive” him and leave it at that.
And that the Duggars have been telling the world how fabulous they are because Jesus via a popular reality tv show for … Read the rest
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Tags: Duggars, FTB
May 22nd, 2015 12:06 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
This thing is horrific.
The In Touch article has the details, and they’re jaw-dropping. Vaticanesque, but with the extra turn of the screw that the “girls” in question are his sisters. Maybe having 19 children isn’t such a brilliant idea after all, huh?
WARNING: Graphic descriptions contained in police report.
Jim Bob Duggar waited more than a year after his son, Josh, confessed to sexually molesting several female minors before contacting police, In Touch Magazine is reporting exclusively, based on information contained in the official police report.
The female minors were his sisters.
What’s more, Jim Bob informed the elders of his church about Joshua’s actions and they waited three months before contacting authorities. The explosive
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB