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Art
Redefining Royalty: A Look Inside Jackson’s Drag Culture
Zachary Salter, who performs as Tara Shay Montgomery, says his drag persona is an extension of his own personality.
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Cover
Beer Tasting 2017: Mississippi v. Tennessee
Over the last few years, craft beer has becoming a rising trend. Breweries are popping up all over, and southern states haven't been lost on the trend. Instead of doing …
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Food
What to Do on New Year’s Eve '14
On New Year's Eve, Hal & Mal's hosts its fifth annual 'Sippi the Catfish Drop. The event begins at 11:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
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Cover
JFP 2015 College Basketball Preview
Baseball has been successful in this state for a few years. Football had an amazing season that leaves everyone wondering if it can be replicated. Is it basketball's turn to …
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City & County
The Heat of the (Week) Night
There's something to do on any given night in the Jackson area. It just takes a little creative planning.
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Education
Journal from Jackson: Will Kids Win State's School-Funding Fight?
Fixing education in a state like Mississippi doesn't happen without a lot of kicking and screaming, even when there is nowhere to go but up.
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Politics
Espy Defends McDaniel Supporters Against Wrongly Attributed 'Horrific' Remark
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy on Monday drew a comparison between U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for comments her spokesperson made about a …
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Immigration
Rep. Thompson Blasts White House's 'Outright Lies,' Calls for Hearings
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., accused the Trump administration of "outright lies" and called for hearings on the deaths of children who were in U.S. custody.
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Politics
Legislative Update: Tort Reform, Heartbeat Bills, Teacher Pay Moves Forward
On Feb. 13, the House and Senate passed "fetal heartbeat" bills, which ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected. Doctors can detect heartbeats as early as six weeks, making it …
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The Back Story on the Anti-Gay Alliance Attacking Mississippi's "If You're Buying" Campaign
By Donna LaddThis falls in the can't-make-it-up column.
Most of you know that Mitchell Moore of Campbell's Bakery, who is straight, and Eddie Outlaw of William Wallace Salon, who is gay, and others started the amazing "If You're Buying, We're Selling" campaign. They want Mississippi business owners to put stickers in their windows to indicate that they don't discriminate, in response to SB 2681, Mississippi's version of the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act." (See lots of business owners with the icon in their ads in this week's JFP, too.)
So, the religious right is apparently not happy with the international media coverage the campaign is getting -- and from Mississippi, which is supposed to be their wheelhouse, you know. They really didn't like it when Emily Pettus of the AP (the JFP's next-door neighbors) did a story about this that was picked up by many outlets.
In response, they went on a PR tear to take back the messaging. Greg Scott, who tweets at @adfmedia, led the way, tweeting this week in response to the AP story: "Sticker folks protest imaginary law .@AP bows false narrative, RFRA not "vaguely written," no threat to "=treatment" http://bit.ly/QEU2El
Curious, I did some research. Turns out, Scott is the VP for media communications for Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund), a nonprofit group founded in 1994 by extreme-right and vocally anti-gay leaders including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. (Interestingly, Mississippi's Judge Charles Pickering is also on the board.)
Not to be outdone, the American Family Association, an alliance co-founder, also blasted the sticker campaign on a Christian "news" site, which is part of the American Family News Network, which is part of the ... American Family Association. "It's not really a buying campaign, but it's a bully campaign," said Buddy Smith, executive vice president of Tupelo-based American Family Association, "and it's being carried out by radical homosexual activists who intend to trample the freedom of Christians to live according to the dictates of scripture."
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the alliance (and AFA) on its list of a dozen groups that drive the "religious right's anti-gay crusade." On its website, it brags that its "attorneys have successfully defended marriage as the union between one man and one woman in over 40 cases nationwide."
SPLC indicates that the alliance was established in the early 1990s in response to gay-rights battles in the courts—which it clearly believes is the "principal" threat to religious freedom. ADF President Alan Sears and Vice President Craig Osten wrote " The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom," which ties homosexuality to pedophilia and other "disordered sexual behavior."
SPLC states: "The ADF has also mounted legal challenges to gay military service, marriage, adoption and foster-parenting, as well as to domestic partner benefits around the nation. It trains other attorneys 'to battle the radical homosexual …
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Open Thread for Melton Trial Here
Have at it.
Meantime, read the JFP's Melton blog/archive here. And read the Sept. 1, 2006, story by Adam Lynch that revealed the Ridgeway Street demolition and led to the trial this week. …
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BREAKING: Video of Melton at Upper Level
Last Sunday, the Jackson Free Press broke news that Mayor Frank Melton was out long after bed-time, leading a platoon of about 20 police officers on a raid on the …
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Morgan Freeman Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
From MSNBC:
Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman was seriously injured in a car accident in Mississippi on Sunday night according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
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State Sued over ‘Abstinence'
In an effort to stop taxpayers from funding religious events, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court last week against the Mississippi Department of Human Services …
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Melton's Boys Come to His Defense
Additional reporting by Ward Schaefer
Three of Mayor Frank Melton's previous mentees, and the mother of another who died more than a decade ago, have filed affidavits in support of their mentor's efforts in what …
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Haley Barbour Wins Second Term
(Post by reader promoted from forums.)
The Associated Press is reporting that Haley Barbour has won a second term as governor. This in a state that is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Many believe Haley is …
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Cover
The Cost of ‘Tough on Crime'
Jackson resident Almona Fleming is a placid woman, prone to introspective stares and thoughtful contemplation during interviews. Her calm demeanor says nothing about the writhing coil of hunger that for …
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BREAKING: Melton, Bodyguards Back in Upper Level
Club-goers are reporting that Mayor Frank Melton, and an entourage including bodyguards, Dets. Michael Recio and Marcus Wright, arrived at the Upper Level nightclub in Jackson close to 2 a.m. …
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Rebel Belles: The Dixie Chicks Reload
Anyone who can't admit that it took courage for Natalie Maines to say she was ashamed George W. Bush came from Texas, and for her band mates Martie Maguire and …
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The Myth Of Separation
Photos by Ronni Mott
Young Abraham left his father Azar's house after losing all hope of teaching him about God.
