Former White House comms director Kate Bedingfield serves up some keen insights into Poppa Joe—he is a night person, he regularly seeks out Jill's opinion, and he is a calming influence. And he's probably not as anxious as Tim Miller is about tonight's debate. Meanwhile, Marc Caputo reports from Magaville on Trump's posturing that he is definitely, absolutely not at all prepping for the debate. Your pre-fight night comfort food to calm the jitters.
On this episode of "The Federalist Radio Hour," Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to break down the U.S. Supreme Court's Murthy v. Missouri ruling and outline the implications it has on Americans' First Amendment rights.
If you care about combatting the corrupt media that continue to inflict devastating damage, please give a gift to help The Federalist do the real journalism America needs.
In April 1997, Ellen was on the cover of Time magazine declaring, “Yep, I’m Gay.” Then a few weeks later, her sitcom alter ego came out on TV. It was watched by 42 million people. The next year, in 1998, Will & Grace premiered on NBC.
This was a watershed moment for gay representation. Then came: The Pursuit of Happiness, Mad About You, Spin City, Chicago Hope, Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, My So-Called Life, Fired Up, The Crew, Profiler, and High Society—which all started to include gay characters.
The whole decade consisted of landmark moments for gay rights. In May 1996, the Supreme Court decided in Romer v. Evans that Colorado's 2nd Amendment, which denied gays and lesbians protections against discrimination, was actually unconstitutional, and in May 1998, Bill Clinton signed an executive order that made it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation in federal workplaces. The gay-rights movement in America was making real progress.
Then, something horrific happened. On a late October night in 1998, in a little town called Laramie, Wyoming, a 21-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was killed.
The details of the murder were brutal. He was pistol-whipped 18 times, beaten, tied to the bottom of a split-rail wooden fence in a remote part of town, and left there unconscious to die. When he was found, it was said that he looked like a scarecrow. One of the first responders said Matthew’s face had so much blood that the only place you could see his skin was where the path of his tears had fallen and washed away the blood. He died a few days later in a nearby hospital.
In the weeks and months that followed, a narrative took shape. Matthew Shepard was killed by two men who he did not know—Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson—because he was gay. It was a hate crime, and it was deplorable.
As the news spread, celebrities and politicians around the country spoke out. President Clinton told journalists at the White House, “In our shock and grief one thing must remain clear: hate and prejudice are not American values.” The story of this anti-gay hate crime came to represent the very thing that many gay Americans feared America was at its worst: a place of deep bigotry, where violence against gay people is rampant, where a young man could be targeted and killed simply for being gay, and a country where there are whole cities and towns, maybe even whole regions, where gay people aren’t safe.
The death of Matthew Shepard became the most notorious anti-gay hate crime in American history. “Shepard is to gay rights what Emmett Till was to the civil rights movement,” as New York congressman Sean Patrick Maloney said.
But what if the story wasn’t true? What if Matthew Shepard wasn’t murdered for being gay, but rather for something more common—though equally tragic? And why did so many people refuse to believe it when investigative journalists discovered the truth?
Those were the questions on reporter Ben Kawaller’s mind when he went to Laramie earlier this month, where he interviewed residents, journalists, and former detectives who have a lot to say about the Matthew Shepard case and what really happened. Today, the real Matthew Shepard story and why the full truth is still important.
"CoinDesk Daily" host Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the biggest headlines in the crypto industry today.
VanEck files for a SOL ETF, six days after a similar product launched in Canada; Decentralized exchange Bluefin plans to launch its governance token in July; and Rarimo launches a competitor to Worlcoin called RariMe. Watch.
This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Jennifer Sanasie.
Ministers of Ecowas, the regional and political organisation for fifteen west African countries, are meeting in Abuja to discuss the formation of a new regional force against terrorism and unconstitutional government changes. The talks come amidst a rise in jihadist activity across the Sahel and after recent coups. Is a new regional force, the answer to the challenges faced by countries in West Africa?
Also a recent strain of mpox in the DRC has been described as the "most dangerous yet". Another strain has been detected in South Africa. What do you need to know about the virus?
And what’s it like being queer in Nigeria? The BBC is let into a secretly held event for Nigeria's LGBTQ+ community.
Presenter: Charles Gitonga
Producers: Victor Sylver, Amie Liebowitz, Bella Hassan and Sunita Nahar
Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp
Technical Producer: Chris Ablakwa
Editors: Alice Muthengi and Andre Lombard
Debates do move polls. But what effect does a presidential debate actually have on the final result in November? We discuss this in what will blessedly be our final discussion of the state of play before the debate! Give a listen.
Dr. Annelle Sheline resigned from the State Department in March after she determined that it was nearly impossible to do her job -- promoting human rights in the Middle East -- in light of the genocide in Gaza. Now at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Dr. Sheline joins Bad Faith to debate the merits of working to reform systems from the inside and to provide behind-the-scenes insights into how some of her former colleagues try to push back against Israel's human rights abuses. Do Matt Miller's craven takes from the podium prove the futility of that effort? Is US narrative-building around the "rules-based order" being destroyed by access to independent media?
Hubert Logan, Mega Bear, Wampum Baggs, and Tad Nugget are all back for Volume 3 of the Super Indian saga. Creator Arigon Starr (Kickapoo and Muscogee Creek) continues the tale of the Native boy who developed super powers after eating commodity cheese tainted with “Rezium”. We’ll talk with Starr about the new comics and what else she’s been up to since the last edition of Super Indian.
Trump and Biden face off in highly anticipated debate. Supreme Court's draft opinion on abortion. Giant pandas head for San Diego. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.
