Flanked by presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz, long hair, don’t care Kentucky country clerk Kim Davis was released from prison on Tuesday after five days in jail for refusing to issues same-sex marriage license. Davis, who has become a religious right hero and has been compared by several idiots to Martin Luther King Jr., was met with thunderous applause from supporters.
Her argument and incarceration have resonated deeply among Christian conservatives who say they fear an erosion of religious liberty, and transformed an obscure local official in a rural corner of Kentucky into a national symbol of unyielding resistance to same-sex marriage. … For Republican presidential candidates, Ms. Davis’s situation has become a litmus test of commitment to religious freedom. Those who are relying on the support of social conservatives have ardently backed her cause. Others have expressed respect for her views while saying the law must be heeded.
The best part? Her office has been issuing same-sex marriage licenses while she’s been incarcerated.
Team Blackness also discussed that Baltimore is to pay Freddie Gray’s family $6.4 million, yet another story of a trigger happy cop, and a baby fight club.
Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS
RaflW
Survivor is considering its legal rights over the Huckster using their Eye of the Tiger at her rally. They appear quite pissed.
As has been noted before, conservatives seem to think freedom of speech implies freedom to ignore artist royalties or use clearances. Freedumb!
shawn
If religious beliefs are an acceptable reason for ignoring federal law, then why is anyone upset that Jihadist-in-Chief Obama is ignoring the Constitution while he does the bidding of his Muslim leaders. Seems like pretty much the same deal as our hero Ms. Davis.
beltane
@RaflW: They think freedom means “free for the taking.”
jl
I’m very confused about what is going on. First I heard that Davis agreed to go back to work and not interfere while some absurd legal case went forward about whether any licenses issued while she was away, and that she doesn’t like somehow, are invalid. Then that she agreed that she will not have to be involved in issuing marriage licenses and won’t interfere with the clerks who agreed to issue them. Last I heard her lawyer said she might follow here beliefs (whatever that means) and she might be back to jail soon.
What an absurd circus.
proterozoic
Kim Davis is the religious right’s Asor Skrap. It’s the reverse of Rosa Parks – when you go to jail to PREVENT people from getting civil rights.
jl
@beltane: I’m the good white Christian boss and I can do what I want. Whatever it is, tt is ‘justified’ because I am godly.
Very like a modern Pharisee… or.. no, I mean humble selfless Christian.
Actually, they make the Pharisees look pretty good by comparison.
FlipYrWhig
Owners of seafood restaurants rejoiced that no “Bible-believing” functionaries refused to sign their business licenses… yet!
Yatsuno
@shawn: Are you that bored DougJ?
I know I know…
RaflW
@jl:
Indeed. At the center of all of this is the almighty circus. Keeps the rabble from focusing on the 1% and how their greed is ruining the lives of so many.
Frankensteinbeck
That is exactly what they fear, and with good reason. The right to deny other people’s rights is a right. It’s just one nobody should have. They’ve been losing this religious liberty in a slow slide since they decided that God told them white people were better than black people.
@shawn:
Because of that. Conservatives have said, at length, on national television, to the nodding agreement of supposed journalists, that Islam is not a religion. Since they believe there is no valid viewpoint but their own, religious rights only apply to them.
jl
@Yatsuno: I suddenly remembered that DougJ said he would be spending a lot of time in some kind of academic administration gig, so he would refrain from controversial posts.
That has not been mentioned wrt to the quality of his recent trolling. Clearly, the new job is taking a horrific toll on his mind.
We should be glad that there are signs he can still type anything at all.
Brachiator
@shawn:
Whose upset? We should rotate theocracy. Xtian Sunday. Muslim Monday. Judaism Tuesday. and so on. Saturday Night’s all right for heathens.
It’s a win win for everybody.
Gin & Tonic
@Yatsuno: Isn’t Cole’s roommate and former Army buddy named Shawn? Just putting that out there.
RaflW
@Frankensteinbeck: Well, one realizes that neither ‘religious rights’ nor ‘freedom!’ mean in conservative circles what we think it does.
They are code words for “I’ve got mine, you’ve got nothing, that’s the system we created and are fighting like hell to defend.”
jl
Update on situation I just saw on TPM blog. We might witness the spectacle of the elected official Davis ordering her assistants to stop issuing marriage licenses (I think she stopped issuing any at all, IIRC), and some poor employees will face the choice of being fired by their elected official boss or being held in contempt of court. I hope not, but who knows?
Expert: Kim Davis’ Legal Claim Is ‘Clear Loser’ That ‘Will Continue To Lose’
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kim-davis-legal-claim-analysis
NonyNony
@Brachiator: Which days do the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Satanists, Pastafarians, Scientologists, Mormons and Raelians each get?
Also do Catholics and Protestants share a day? Do Unitarians get grouped in as Christians? Do Mormons? Do Shia and Sunni share a day? What about Shinto? And does Confucianism count as a religion? What about the Odinists vs. the Ásatru? Do you really expect them to share Saturdays? Also atheists should really get a day even though I suppose we don’t really count as a religion.
Dear editors – There are way too many religions these days. Please eliminate 8. PS I am not a crackpot.
jl
@NonyNony: Easy problem to solve. Every day is a religious holiday! Free gum drops and cotton candy clouds and fruit juicy rainbow treats for all!
Edit: and rides on magic flying unicorns. I forgot about those.
Surreal American
@proterozoic:
Asor Skrap, otherwise known as Bizarro Rosa Parks.
NonyNony
@jl: I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
(If I change religions enough times, do I get to keep all of the religious holidays? Or maybe I should just start my own religion that has all of the religious holidays of all of the other religions, and then inform my employer that Religious Freedom (TM) requires that he give me the day off for all of them. Paid, of course.)
Brachiator
@NonyNony:
Scientologists, Mormons and Raelians are cults. As such, they get grouped into a Monday holiday, Nutcase Day. Satanists are anti-religion. There will be a special reverse Bizarro Calendar for them. Other religions will have to share.
Atheists have to share with heathens and vie for Saturday. Also, Saturday will be free abortion day, cause its heathen.
Remaining religions will have to fight for Friday. Last man standing.
Chris
@jl:
It really is amazing the lengths to which these people will go to ensure that two people they’ll never see again can’t enjoy something that’ll never affect them in the slightest.
Of all the myriad things prescribed in the Bible, this is the hill they want to die on.
I mean, I understand that this kind of thing happens, and that it’s kind of the entire root of conservatism. But no matter how often I see it, there’s a part of me that simply doesn’t grok how you can be that much of a fucking asshole.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Yatsuno:
I think your snark detector may need a small adjustment.
elmo
This has no more to do with Religious Freedom (TM) than the original fight over Roe had to do with abortion. This is all about delegitimizing the Supreme Court, and by proxy, the Fourteenth Amendment.
I hate-read Free Republic all the time, because feeling superior to my fellow man gives me a rush. The talking points on this have shifted. Now it’s all about how the Supreme Court only issues “opinions” about laws, and can’t make laws itself. The excitement when one of them pointed out that the word “OPINION” is right up at the top of Obergefell was so pathetic and adorable, the little darlings. But they’re clearly repeating the stuff churning around in the wingnutosphere, because it’s becoming really monolithic. The Supreme Court has no power to make new laws, so Kentucky now has NO marriage statute until it passes a new one.
And the calls to repeal the 14th Amendment are no longer confined to the fringes. This is being coordinated, folks, and it’s about undermining the Court as the arbiter of the liberties set forth in the Constitution.
Mike in NC
@jl: If Davis tries to fire anybody in that office for doing their job, I imagine they’d sue her sorry ass in a heartbeat for wrongful termination. Judge Bunning would not be amused.
jl
@Chris: What is prescribed in the New Testament, if you actually read the thing, is that yes. Paul uses obscure words that might very uncertainly be interpreted as a same sex relationships are sinful (along with adultery, theft, greed, indifference, cruelty, etc.), but if any Christian thinks that they are better than these enumerated sinners, they are actually worse because they are committing the sin of spiritual pride. All of that is written out in the same passage.
Paul doesn’t say anything about going to hell because you issue a civil contract to two gay people who can go merrily along sinning without it.
So, these Protestants, who claim to be ‘Bible believing’ and basing their whole faith on the Bible and nothing else, are nuts.
And obligatory disclaimer that the purely religious problems with their stand is irrelevant legally, in hopes I don’t get scolded again for ignoring the main point.
Mike H
And the GoFundMe stage commences…
Amir Khalid
@Mike H:
No it doesn’t. You can’t do that on GoFundMe anymore.
elmo
@Chris:
Facebook is becoming a trial for me, because of the occasional messages posted supporting her “standing up for what she believes in.” And the people “liking” and “sharing” stuff from Hucksterbee.
Those people, by the way, include two of my own brothers. Did I mention that I moved to Maryland in 2013 specifically to gay-marry my wife?
Yeah. They’re assholes.
Elizabelle
The balls on these people.
They pervert the language. “Religious liberty” is not what they suppose it to be.
You must have freedom FROM religion in order to have freedom OF religion. Then it is a genuine choice.
Roger Moore
@shawn:
Because Islam isn’t a real religion that deserves 1st Amendment protection. SATSQ.
Elizabelle
@elmo: How insensitive of them.
Spend more time here, and less on FB!
Chris
@elmo:
I’ve unfriended quite a few people over the years for the offense of Being A Right Wing Asshole. But I understand that it’s harder to do with relatives – there’s a few on there that I would definitely have unfriended a long time ago if I didn’t want to keep things civil at the family reunions.
jl
@jl: And IIRC, Paul wrote that the sanctions for those who flagrantly indulge in the enumerated sins cannot be members in good standing of the Christian church. So, Paul has a better grasp of the separation of church and state than these people? May be. Read Paul’s rather liberal and common sense advice on how Christians should try to get along in a pagan world, and it may more likely be that he did.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I’m pretty sure that should by Friday for Islam and Saturday for Judaism. And we definitely need to put the Thor back in Thursday.
Warren Terra
Apparently Huckabee said Davis had been unfairly persecuted and had been denied her right to fair accommodation of her religious beliefs. Given that she was not only refusing to perform her duties but also refusing to allow anyone else to do so, this is beyond nuts, even if you believe she has the right to refuse to personally countenance impious acts of marriage (which I think also, separately doesn’t make sense).
PS how come there are never Catholic clerks refusing to license the marriages of divorcees?
Roger Moore
@jl:
I doubt it. If she threatens them for issuing marriage certificates, they report her to the judge and she goes right back to jail.
elmo
@Elizabelle: @Chris:
the really awesome part is that Eldest Brother is 57 and has been married twice, and just recently split up with his most recent girlfriend. Other Brother is 52 and has never been in a stable relationship. I’ve been with Mrs. Elmo since 1991.
bystander
NOM has been trying to raise funds off the other grifter. Joemygod reporting that they’ve so far raised a whopping $6700 from 20 some braindeadenders. Her lawyers refused to divulge how much they’ve raised.
What I would most like to see now that we apparently won’t get to see Pam gaymarrying her roommate in the clinker is her lawyers being brought up on ethics charges. That’s even less likely than the prospect of Sapphic bliss crossing Pam’s mysterious smile.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
We can hammer out whether Thor gets Thursday, but the other groups would not necessarily get the day they most covet, just because of past tradition.
goblue72
@Warren Terra: Because until fairly recently, your average conservative Catholic was just ordinary reactionary conservative, not batshit insane marry your cousin conservative.
Roger Moore
@Warren Terra:
I think they’re asking for a broader accommodation, where her signature would no longer have to be on marriage licenses at all, which doesn’t seem like a bad accommodation. The problem is the tantrum she’s throwing while trying to get her accommodation.
Calouste
@elmo: Women don’t like assholes. Who knew?
WaterGirl
@jl: The operative word there is “might”. I went to the TPM article thinking that something had actually happened, but that article is filled with speculation. We know absolutely nothing about what Kim Davis will choose to do when she returns to work.
jl
@Roger Moore: A lot of the problem is that in her county her job is as an elected official. Other options, such as her removal or reassignment (which could happen if she were an employee or an appointed official) not open right now. Supposedly when KY leg is back in session it could be fixed by impeachment and conviction and removal, but from what I read some in the KY leg are planning to introduce legislation to accommodate the kind of mess she is making. So a chance the KY leg will make a bigger mess.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Are you kidding? What’s next, I can’t get a liquor license for my business because someone at the city believes alcohol is the devil?
I seriously want someone who is catholic to take a bullshit stand similar to what Kim Davis has done – and refuse marriage licenses to anyone who has been divorced.
trollhattan
@Yatsuno:
I was thinking “Jihadist-in-Chef” would make a great biopic about ISIS group cannibalism.
WaterGirl
@jl: If that happens, I hope tons of people request these special accommodations for all sorts of equally ridiculous reasons. Let the KY legislature reap what they have sown.
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
They’ll start their own “Fundest thou me” website. This cash-generating opportunity may not, nay, shall not be denied!
Elizabelle
@elmo: I guess your brothers will always have Facebook.
That’s funny. But brings up a question: might you and Mrs. Elmo have a better relationship because you could never take it for granted, and you had to protect each other throughout?
For me, one ugly underside of the Mrs. Kim ___ Davis ___ Davis “religious liberty” case is that she is denying marriage licenses to couples who likely have far better relationships, certainly more loving and time-tested ones, than she can ever aspire to.
Wingnuts gotta learn — and refuse to — you cannot impose marriage or morality on anyone.
trollhattan
@Warren Terra:
That would make Kim Davis quite the floozie, what with her collection of four.
Bobby Thomson
@elmo: not a new idea. Crazy Andy beat them to the punch.
A Ghost To Most
@elmo:
Sorry about your siblings; I feel your pain. Happy you were able to get married in MD.
We moved from MD to CO to put distance between us and crazy family.
A guy
It would be interesting to see the accountants report of the future loss of earnings of Freddie. And how many family members relied on his income for support.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Bobby Thomson:
Linky no work. I fix. “Court History: The First Hundred Years.”
Ken
@elmo: Does this mean corporations might not be people after all?
PurpleGirl
@NonyNony: Two decades or so back I created my own religion and named it — Equal Opportunity Deity Worshipper. I tell people if the holy day resonants with me, I will celebrate it. They tend to be happy celebration days — like Christmas, Chanuka, Diwali; days that revolve around displays of light, gift giving, sharing food. No fancy or detailed theology — just a feeling of being one with the universe. It works for me.
Bobby Thomson
@jl: Judge Bunning could order that her marriage duties be transferred to a judge.
Keith G
This has entered tempest in tea pot stage, as the word is out that federal judges are not fond of such shenanigans.
My wish is that this loser and her clown posse receive no more notice unless she again interferes with civil liberties – and then all I want is a small notice: Crazy woman re-incarcerated.
She deserves no more attention.
raven
@Bobby Thomson: He could order her to be thrown in the moat!
trollhattan
@raven: Twenty bucks says she weighs more than a duck.
raven
@trollhattan: Via duck?
Elizabelle
@PurpleGirl: I have a feeling your religion has no concept of “Original Sin.”
For the better.
Bobby Thomson
@Steeplejack (tablet): thanks.
Keith G
@raven: Why a no chicken?
trollhattan
@raven:
If she weighs the same as a duck, she’s a witch!
RaflW
@Chris: You can remain “friends” but unfollow them. Keeps 90% of their posts out of your news feed.
Chris
@RaflW:
That’s what I’ve done with the close relatives. The others, though, I figure it’s not even worth doin gthat.
gian
Dear Kim Davis. My religion doesn’t recognize divorce and calls for stoning adulterous women to death.
Why must you disrespect my religion so?
My freedom is impinged by your public flaunting of your adulterous ways you hussy
Applejinx
@RaflW: I suppose ‘We are the Champions’ would be just too much to hope for.
J R in WV
@elmo:
Well, then: Hearty congratulations to you and MS Elmo both. I firmly believe in marriage, I think it’s easier to be happy in general when you have a partner with you for both the easy fun things and the desperately hard times.
Many happy returns of your anniversary! I’ve been married since 1971, to the same woman, even!
Drunkenhausfrau
They were all in one place, yet no meteor…proof there is no God.
+3 ( just Chardonnay)
bjacques
In the words of the late, Great Steve Gilliard, a would-be martyr like Kim Davis isn’t Joan of Arc–she’s Joan of Ass.
Paul in KY
@proterozoic: That would make a good villain name ‘Asor Skrap’. Bald, and with an eye patch, buwahahahahaha!
Paul in KY
@jl: I do not think she can legally fire them solely for refusing to violate a federal judge’s order.