Story
NATO Approves New Force Aimed at Deterring Russia
Seeking to counter Russian aggression, NATO leaders approved plans Friday to create a rapid response force with a headquarters in Eastern Europe that could quickly mobilize if an alliance country …
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Economy
ANALYSIS: Mississippi’s Economic Inequality and Conventional Wisdom
French economist Thomas Piketty's analysis reveals the myth of meritocracy—people gaining power based on their ability—and challenges conventional wisdom on economic inequality and its root causes.
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Prayers for Jennifer Hudson
Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson, R.I.P.
Jennifer Hudson, former American Idol contestant and "Dreamgirls" star, is dealing with the murders of her mother and brother as well as the abduction of her 7-year-old nephew. I wouldn't …
Entry
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 …
Story
Nightmare on Ridgeway Street
About 8:30 the evening of Aug. 26, residents of Ridgeway Street in the Virden Addition saw the Mobile Command Center roll up in front of Evans "Bubba" Welch's duplex, near …
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Cover
Ending the Silence
Bringing Rape and Sexual Assault out of Shame's Closet
Anthony Sowell had been out of prison about three years after serving 15 for attempted rape when he ran into Gladys Wade outside a neighborhood store in Cleveland, Ohio, on …
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Story
Not Without A Fight
Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Lonnie Edwards won't go quietly. Edwards announced Feb. 5 that he would appeal the JPS Board of Trustees' decision to let his three-year contract expire with …
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Just In: Ashcroft Sending Poll Watchers to Mississippi
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ANNOUNCES FEDERAL OBSERVERS TO MONITOR GENERAL ELECTION IN STATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY (including) Jones, Kemper, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, and Winston Counties, Mississippi.
Story
No ‘Unnamed Sources,' Ledger? You sure?
Cledger-Ledger honchos have been known to declare that the paper does not use "unnamed sources." We already know that's not true due to mucked-up stories like the one by Ledger …
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Sports
OPINION: D.J. Durkin as UM Football Coach Reduces Life of Jordan McNair
D.J. Durkin's hiring raises important questions for the sport of college football: Are there any consequences for elite, white men in positions of power? And just how low are we …
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Candidate
The JFP Interview with Steve Simpson
When Stephen Simpson stands over you with his 6-foot-7-inch frame, you might want to think twice before disagreeing with him. The Republican will tell you that "it's easy being on …
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[Lott] A Serious Issue
We say we're upset by gasoline prices. We complain because it costs $30 dollars to fill up our car or perhaps $40 or even $50 to fill up our truck. …
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For Louis
Last week, my husband, JP, was leaving our house to go to work when he saw something huddled in the bushes. Just as soon as I had heard his key …
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Don't Buy Dirty
People can't always buy organic for a variety of reasons: The local store may have limited supplies, they lack variety or cost is a consideration. But whatever the reason—or excuse—shoppers …
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[McLaughlin] A Woman's Role
Over the weekend, I ended up at the last place I would have thought I'd spend a Sunday afternoon: the Premier Bridal Show at Jackson Convention Center. I filled in …
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FACT CHECK: Romney Flunks Geography, Fails to Spin Auto Bailout
Voters didn't always get the straight goods when President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made their case for foreign policy and national security leadership Monday night before their last …
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Art
Ring in the New Year
Ring in 2018 with help from local businesses. Find more New Year’s Event happenings at jfpevents.com.
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Help ‘N the Hood
You may not have heard of the other CIA—Christians in Action. CIA is a children's advocacy group that sponsors an emergency shelter for abused or neglected children. Their facility is …
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1.6 Million Women Sue Wal-Mart for Discrimination
The NY Times reports: "A federal judge ruled yesterday that a lawsuit that accuses Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of discriminating against women can proceed as a class action covering about 1.6 …
