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Alabama Gov. Denies Having Affair With Top Female Aide, but Leaked Audio Seems to Suggest Otherwise [+video]

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Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) denied on Wednesday having a physical affair with a top female aide, but admitted to making inappropriate remarks to her shortly before audio of the sexually suggestive conversation was published online.

The two-term Republican governor, a former Baptist deacon, acknowledged in a conciliatory news conference that he said “some inappropriate things” to his senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

“I made a mistake. Two years ago I made a mistake,” Bentley said, adding that he had previously apologized to his family and to Mason and her family. “Today I want to apologize to the people of the state of Alabama and once again, I want to apologize to my family. I am truly sorry and I accept full responsibility.”

Shortly after, the Alabama Media Group published a 2014 recording it said was of Bentley telling Mason how much he enjoyed his relationship with her.

(Read more from “Alabama Gov. Denies Having Affair With Top Female Aide, but Leaked Audio Seems to Suggest Otherwise” HERE)

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More Than a Decade Later, Missing Alabama Boy Found in Ohio

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A child who was reported missing in Alabama 13 years ago has been found safe and unharmed in Cleveland, Ohio, authorities say.

Julian Hernandez was in the legal custody of his mother when he disappeared on August 28, 2002. He was 5 then.

It was suspected that his father, Bobby Hernandez, took him as part of a noncustodial parental abduction, according to the Vestavia Hills Police Department, just south of Birmingham . . .

The missing child they were able to locate and positively identify is now 18. Julian’s mother and family were notified of his recovery.

Bobby Hernandez was arrested Monday in the abduction. The court records from Cuyahoga County in Ohio did not specify exact charges against him. CNN reached out to attorney Ralph DeFranco’s office for further comment Wednesday night but did not immediately receive a response. (Read more from “More Than a Decade Later, Missing Alabama Boy Found in Ohio” HERE)

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Pistol-Whipped Alabama Cop Didn’t Shoot Attacker for Fear of Making Headlines

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roebuck15n-3-webThe Alabama police officer who went viral after he was pistol-whipped with his own gun last week said he didn’t shoot his attacker because he didn’t want to make headlines as the nation’s newest vilified cop.

The Birmingham detective, whose name has not yet been released, paused while a suspect attacked him during a traffic stop because he feared the country-wide backlash he might receive for killing a black man, the head of the local police union said Friday.

“Local law enforcement officers are walking on egg shells because they’re so hesitant of how to interact because of what’s taking place in the media,” police Sgt. Heath Boackle, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told the Daily News . . .

Images of the bloodied officer lying limp and face-down on the ground quickly went viral after witnesses dispersed them on social media, where the wounded deputy was heavily mocked by cop critics . . .

The plainclothes Birmingham cop was investigating a string of burglaries when he stopped a GMC Yukon and was attacked by the driver who immediately got out of his vehicle, authorities said. (Read more from “Pistol-Whipped Alabama Cop Didn’t Shoot Attacker for Fear of Making Headlines” HERE)

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Alabama Just Made a Major Move That Could Terrify Obama and the Rest of the Federal Gov’t

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Photo Credit: Western Journalism

The state of Alabama just became the latest state to authorize a convention of the states to propose new amendments under Article V of the Constitution.

The vote, which came after several hours of debate, made the Alabama House the latest state body to vote for an Article V convention.

Under Article V, a convention of the states can be called if two-thirds of the states — in this case 34 — vote to hold one to propose new amendments to the Constitution.

The new amendments would then need to be approved by three-quarters of the states — 38 at the present moment — at which point they would take effect. The benefit of this process is that it bypasses the federal government entirely, leaving the amendments up to the individual states.

The resolution passed by the Alabama state House of Representatives specifically limits the amendments to be proposed in such a convention to three specific categories:

1) imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government through a balanced budget amendment;
2) limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government; and
3) implementing term limits on federal elected officials.

(Read more from “Alabama Just Made a Major Move That Could Terrify Obama and the Rest of the Federal Gov’t” HERE)

[Editor’s note: there is significant disagreement among conservatives about whether there is any need to change the Constitution. Those who oppose the Convention of the States and other proposed methods of revising the Constitution say that the Constitution as written is more than adequate to address the largess of government – if only justices would follow their oaths and interpret the Constitution as the drafters intended it. Many also believe the Convention of the States will open the convention to co-option by the elites and then the Constitution will be changed in ways to destroy fundamental rights]

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Roy Moore: Two U.S. Supreme Court Justices Should Abstain from Gay Marriage Vote

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Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore says two U.S. Supreme Court Justices should recuse themselves from an upcoming vote on gay marriage because they have performed the marriages of same-sex couples.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan have both performed same-sex marriages, which indicates how they may vote on the issues of gay marriage, Moore said in an interview with AL.com on Thursday. “Their actions speak louder than their words,” he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court in April is set to hear an appeal from U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decisions upholding bans on same-sex marriage in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. The ruling is set to be issued in June and and settle the issue in other states, including Alabama.

Moore has been an outspoken supporter of Alabama’s laws banning same-sex marriage and the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. (Read more from “Roy Moore: Two U.S. Supreme Court Justices Should Abstain from Gay Marriage Vote” HERE)

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In Near-Unanimous Decision, Alabama’s Supreme Court Orders the State to Stop Issuing Homosexual Marriage Licenses

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The Alabama supreme court has ordered the state’s probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, a decision that flies in the face of numerous rulings by federal judges in Alabama and other states across the country who have said banning gay marriage violates the US Constitution.

The all-Republican court sided with a pair of conservative organizations on Tuesday in ruling that the US Constitution doesn’t alter the judges’ duty to administer state law, which defines marriage as between only one man and one woman.

Six justices concurred in the 134-page opinion, which wasn’t signed, but the court’s most outspoken opponent of gay marriage, Chief Justice Roy Moore, recused himself.

Gay marriages began in some Alabama counties on 9 February following a decision by US District Judge Callie Granade of Mobile, who ruled that both Alabama’s constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.

Immediately after the judge’s ruling Moore told probate judges across the state they were not obliged to issue same-sex marriage licenses. His stance created widespread confusion, prompting some judges to refuse to issue the licenses and others to shut down their operations for all couples, gay and straight, until they could get a clear answer. (Read more about Alabama’s Supreme Court halting homosexual marriage licenses HERE)

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Watch: Pastor’s Explosive Speech About Gay Marriage During Birmingham Council Meeting

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Headlines and newscasts around the nation reported Alabama’s first legal same sex marriages as historic, but one Birmingham pastor this afternoon illustrated another view with his scathing public criticism.

Cedric Hatcher, an outspoken street evangelist and regular at Birmingham City Hall, took to the lectern during the public comment portion of today’s meeting to express his disapproval of the marriages that took place just across Linn Park and around the state Monday.

“To me yesterday was one of the most bizarre scenes I’ve ever seen in the city,” Hatcher said. “It was one of the most comedic scenes I’ve ever seen in public when I witnessed men with size 13 and 14 shoes out there kissing each other in the mouth in front of little kids. It was like a freak scene going on, that’s what I call it.”

Like his previous statements on social issues, Hatcher didn’t soften his approach when criticizing the legalization of same-sex marriage. He delivered an abrasive critique instead.

Hatcher cited several Bible passages and decried the presence of children in ceremonies he believed were abominable. (Read more from the speech about gay marriage HERE)

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Alabama Official Ordered to Issue Marriage Licenses to Homosexual Couples

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Photo Credit: IB Times By Reuters. A federal judge on Thursday ordered an Alabama official to comply with her earlier ruling striking down the state’s ban on same-sex matrimony and start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, while advocates said couples in most counties were still unable to obtain licenses.

U.S. District Judge Callie Granade’s order clarified that Mobile County Probate Court Judge Don Davis should follow her directive despite a contravening order from Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore that led many state judges to refrain from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

The ruling marked the latest twist in the controversy over gay marriage in Alabama, where probate judges have faced conflicting orders from federal and state courts. The resulting disarray has allowed some same-sex couples to marry in places such as Birmingham, while those applying for marriage licenses in dozens of counties were turned away.

Granade’s order applied specifically to Mobile County, where, within an hour of the ruling, same-sex couples who had been waiting in line at a county building began to receive licenses.

Judges in the other 43 of Alabama’s 67 counties that have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples did not immediately begin issuing them in the wake of Granade’s order, advocates said. (Read more from ‘Alabama Official Ordered to Issue Marriage Licenses HERE)

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Here’s What Your State’s View of Homosexual Marriage Is

By Victoria Taft. A new survey shows American tolerance or support of same-sex marriage has increased a whopping 21% between 2003 and 2013.

The Public Religion Research Institute, which routinely polls issues pertaining to abortion and LGBT issues, says the differences are stark from one decade to the next . . .

Here’s what your state’s voters think about same-sex marriage.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Chief Justice Roy Moore Defies Feds, Urges Alabama’s Judges to Refuse Gay Marriage Licenses

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By Sandhya Somashekhar. On the day that same-sex unions became legal in Alabama, local officials in dozens of counties on Monday defied a federal judge’s decision and refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, casting the state into judicial chaos.

Gay couples were able to get licenses in about a dozen places, including Birmingham, Huntsville and a few other counties where probate judges complied with the judge’s decision. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled early Monday that it would deny Alabama’s request to put the marriages on hold.

But in the majority of counties, officials said they would refuse to license same-sex marriages or stop providing licenses altogether, confronting couples — gay and heterosexual — with locked doors and shuttered windows.

Many of the state’s 68 probate judges mounted their resistance to the federal decision at the urging of the firebrand chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore. He is best known for refusing more than a decade ago to comply with a court order to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the state Supreme Court’s offices.

In Mobile, about 10 gay couples who had expected to be granted licenses first thing in the morning found the marriage-license window closed indefinitely. (Read more about the refusal to marry homosexual couples HERE)

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Alabama’s Largest Paper Mocks Christian Judge: Is Roy Moore a Closeted Homosexual?

By Tim Graham. The Birmingham News is the largest newspaper in Alabama (even though it only publishes a print edition three times a week now.) That could be in part due to leftist pranks. The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, has defiantly ordered a halt on gay marriage licenses, prompting News commentator Kyle Whitmire to offer a Readers Poll on Sunday asking “Is Roy Moore a closeted homosexual?”

Liberals apparently love this question, because the poll results are 71 percent yes, 6 percent no, and 22 percent “Maybe, but just that one time in college.” It probably won’t be shocking to note that until he joined the News, Whitmire was a stringer for The New York Times for seven years (2005-12).

Moore, a Baptist married with four children, is best known for insisting on having the Ten Commandments posted in his courtroom, leading to court fights with secularists — and popularity with Alabama voters. (Read more from this story about Chief Justice Roy Moore and his fight against unconstitutional federal acts HERE)

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Complaint: Ford Persecuting Christian Employee for Simply Voicing His Opinion on Homosexuals

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By Billy Hallowell. A former contract employee at Ford Motor Company is accusing the company of unlawful discrimination after he says he was fired for sharing an online comment expressing his faith-based opposition to Ford’s support for an LGBT employee organization.

Thomas Banks, a former design and release product engineer, told TheBlaze Wednesday that he has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission through his attorneys at the Liberty Institute, a conservative legal firm.

Banks and his lawyers say the Ford Motor Company and Rapid Global Business Solutions Inc., a staffing firm that employed him, discriminated against Banks for sharing his religious beliefs, claiming the companies violated federal law, including the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

He said problems began when he received an online newsletter from Ford in July 2014 that referred to the company’s longstanding “policy to promote pro-homosexual ideas,” according to the Liberty Institute.

Banks, a Christian, submitted a comment in the feedback section of the newsletter, saying he found the company’s stance offensive. (Read more about the Ford employee voicing his opinion on homosexuals HERE)

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Openly Gay Alabama Politician Threatens to Expose Colleagues Alleged Affairs Over Gay Marriage Criticism

By Fox News. Alabama’s only openly gay lawmaker says if her colleagues don’t stop calling same-sex marriage immoral, she’ll publicly out her heterosexual colleagues she claims are having extramarital affairs.

State Rep. Patricia Todd said she was furious and disappointed by comments made after a federal judge struck down the state’s gay-marriage ban last week.

“I’m sick of the hypocrisy,” the Birmingham Democrat said on Facebook. “If you start disparaging my community, and I know that you are not exactly the family values person that you put yourself out to be, well, then, beware.”

Todd has not identified by name anyone she is considering accusing.

U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade’s order, issued Friday, potentially makes Alabama the 37th state where gay marriage is legal. She put the order on hold for 14 days to let the state appeal. The state wants the ruling to remain on hold until the Supreme Court takes up the issue later this year. (Read more from this story HERE)

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