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In a shocking turn of events Sean Hannity has given Roy Moore 24 hours to answer the allegations against him and if he doesn’t Hannity has said that Moore should leave the Senate race.
UPDATE: The following day after Roy Moore sent an open letter to Sean Hannity. Hannity said he thinks that the issue of Roy Moore staying in the Senate race is one that should be left to the voters of Alabama. Showing once again that Sean Hannity is an establishment tool!
Publicly, the Trump confidant and Breitbart chairman has stood behind Moore, who is now accused of attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl. Bannon has also railed against what he and his allies dub “fake news” and the GOP establishment for trying to push Moore out of the race.
But over the past few days, Bannon has begun privately taking the temperature of those in his inner circle to see what they think of the Moore allegations and to get their sense of how to proceed, according to four knowledgeable sources. Late last week, the Breitbart chairman said, “I will put him in a grave myself,” if he determines that Moore was lying to him about the numerous accusations, a source close to Bannon relayed.
Bannon emphasized, to both friends and colleagues, that he’s uncomfortable with the charges of sexual harassment and child molestation that have been levelled at Moore. But he wasn’t convinced that the initial flood of on-record testimony, starting with the first Washington Poststory last week, was anything more than a hit job. And he believes it may have been planted by #NeverTrump operatives to put the screws to Moore’s campaign.
Several of Bannon’s most trusted allies have already told him that it would be “insane,” as one put it, to believe at this point that the Moore accusations are baseless. They have also warned that the time is rapidly approaching when he would have to disavow Moore before it appeared as though he was simply caving to political pressure. (Critics of Bannon, of course, argue he should never have backed Moore in the first place.)
Additionally on Tuesday, the front page of Breitbart featured a prominently placed headline that read, “POTUS TO REVISIT ROY MOORE SUPPORT AFTER RETURNING TO U.S." from his Asia trip—roughly the same position Bannon now finds himself in.
Embattled Alabama Republican Roy Moore's Senate run was complicated by some new developments today. One of which we are proud to report is that our very own Senator Todd Young has called for Moore to pull out of the senate race.
Young made the statement after a fifth woman accused Moore of making sexual or romantic advances toward her when she was a teenager.
Senator Young made the following statement on Twitter:
The appearance of grossly reprehensible behavior disqualifies him from service in the United States Senate. If he does not step aside, we need to act to protect the integrity of the Senate (2/2)
Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who heads the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, was more specific Monday in saying the Senate should vote to expel Moore if he wins the special election in December.
The fifth woman to come forward today to accuse Judge Moore of improper behavior is Beverly Young Nelson. Nelson accused Moore of sexual assault back in 1977 during a press conference today.
An Alabama woman alleges Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager, her attorney Gloria Allred said Monday.
Allred said her client, Beverly Young Nelson, would be willing to testify under oath and called on the Senate judiciary committee to hold a hearing and subpoena Moore.
"Mr. Moore attacked me when I was a child," Nelson said, adding that she was 15 when he began flirting with her and 16 at the time of the alleged assault. "I want Mr. Moore to know that he no longer has any power over me."
The allegations of force, if true, would be considered sexual abuse in the first degree, but the statute of limitations in effect at the time would have passed.
Nelson detailed her allegations in a statement alongside Allred, an attorney who focuses on discrimination and women's rights.
Nelson said Moore was a regular at the Olde Hickory House, a restaurant she worked at when she was starting high school.
At the press conference with Allred, Nelson said Moore wrote an inscription in her yearbook one day in December 1977 that said, "To a sweeter more beautiful girl, I could not say, 'Merry Christmas.'" She said he signed it "Roy Moore, D.A."
She said that one evening he offered her a ride home.
Instead of taking her home, Nelson said Moore pulled his car behind the restaurant and began to attack her.
"Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me and putting his hands on my breasts," Nelson said.
She said she tried to open the car door to leave, but Moore locked it and continued to grab her.
"He began squeezing my neck, attempting to force my head onto his crotch. I continued to struggle," Nelson said. "I thought that he was going to rape me."
She said she began to cry and beg him to stop and that eventually he did relent before telling her not to speak.
"At some point he gave up, and he then looked at me," Nelson said. "He said, 'You're just a child,' and he said, 'I am the district attorney of Etowah County and if you tell anyone about this, no one will ever believe you.'"
Nelson said she was inspired to speak out because of the women that came forward to the Post.
"I would probably have taken what Mr. Moore did to me to my grave had it not been for the courage of four other women that were willing to speak out about their experiences with Mr. Moore," Nelson said.
Allred said her client declined to take questions but would be willing to speak in public further should the Senate Judiciary Committee decline to hold a hearing on the matter in the next two weeks.
Here is an image of the yearbook inscription from 1977 and Roy Moore's signature from earlier this year:
Roy Moore's signature from that 1977 yearbook matches Roy Moore's signature on his US Term Limits pledge this year. pic.twitter.com/4gQz9ytZZX
Now none of us here at the blog are handwriting experts. But based off the evidence of our own eyes the signatures seem to match. Now the fact that he may have signed a high school yearbook proves nothing other than he signed the book. But it seems very strange that a man in his thirties would be sign some high school girls yearbook. INDY REPUBLICAN hereby joins with Senator's Todd Young, Mitch McConnell, Jeff Flake, Cory Gardner, Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham and Steve Daines in calling on Roy Moore to withdraw from the Alabama Senate Race in the name of human decency. In another post we will go into more detail on other principled conservatives, republicans, and libertarians who have refused to back this odious excuse for a man Roy Moore. We would be remiss if we did not pay this compliment to Senator Todd Young. Senator your stand is principled, courageous, and shows that you have a spine and some balls. So we will remove 50 sins from your political career because this is an awesome move on your part.
We highly encourage our readers to look at Ms. Groppe's column over at Indystar by clicking here. Also please ContactMaureen Groppe and tell her how much you appreciate this article she wrote. She can be reached via email at mgroppe@gannett.com. Or follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.
To the victims of Roy Moore we wish to offer these words of comfort from the words of Saint John the Revelator:
Revelation 21:4New King James Version (NKJV) 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
UPDATE: It appears that Texas Senator Ted Cruz has decided to jump on the "No More Moore" bandwagon. Redstate has the story here.
UPDATE: Folks we are going to need a whole fleet of wagons to carry all the Republicans who now want to kick Roy Moore to the curb. In an unusual bit of new Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is saying Moore should be dumped:
Nobody even asked Walker, who seems to be going out of his way to dump Roy Moore here. https://t.co/p6iz3IVHl0
The Hill is also reporting that the White House has floated the idea of trying to send Attorney General Jeff Sessions back to his old Senate seat in Alabama as a way to get rid of Roy Moore.
The New Yorker is also reporting that Roy Moore was banned from the Gasden, Alabama Mall in the 1980's for hassling teenage girls.
In what we hope will be the last update on this post MSNBC reporter Chris Hayes has some interesting things to point out about Roy Moore's past:
Today's allegation against Moore is alleged to have happened in 1977. Leigh Corfman says he assaulted her in 1979. Around that same time two challenges to his law license were filed w the bar and dismissed.
In 1982, Moore left town for Texas then Australia.
Our sources inform us that sometime today. Possibly even later this morning a poll will come out showing Doug Jones the Democratic Senate Candidate in Alabama of pulling ahead of RINO Roy “I Don’t Generally Date Teenagers” Moore. Now granted one poll by itself is meaningless. But as reported last month by Paul Ogden here, and The Hill reported two days ago here. Doug Jones has twice been dead tied with Roy Moore. For a Democrat running for the Senate in Alabama to be tied even once with there Republican opponent is unimaginable. To do so twice could be the signs of a storm brewing in favor of Alabama Democrats. It could turn out to be a repeat of 2010’s suprise GOP upset win in Massachusetts by Scott Brown against Democrat Martha Coakley. We will update this story later today hopefully.
UPDATE: JMC Analytics has released a poll showing Doug Jones ahead of Roy Moore 46-42. If Jones wins or Moore only narrowly wins this race this will be another clear indication that our Grand Old Party needs to reject the false Gospel of Trumpism.
The Florence Times Daily out of Alabama has reported that apparently somehow the Alabama GOP is breaking apart over Roy Moore and some type of sex scandal involving clams. Based off our experience we were not aware that seafood could be involved in a sex scandal. But there is a first time for everything.
Checkout the cover page of today’s Florence Times Daily:
Ever since Judge Roy Moore won the republican senate primary in Alabama on September 26th. Several of our readers have asked us to examine just who Roy Moore is and to share our views on this man. INDY REPUBLICAN has known of Judge Moore for over 20 years now, and the almost cult-like status he has among some of our fellow conservatives. However IR has not and never will be supporters of Judge Moore. We have found him to be a huckster and opportunist who proclaims and espouses ideals and standards of public and private morality that he himself fails to practice in his own public and private lives. Most noteworthy being that his having twice been removed from his position as Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court of Alabama for refusing to enforce the orders of a higher court. Whether or nor you agree with the higher courts decisions in those cases, and in some aspects we don't agree with them. Bottom line is that higher courts issued there rulings and as a sworn officer of the court Judge Moore refused to obey them. In addition his advocacy of religious tests to serve in congress violates Article VI, Section III of the Constitution which states:
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
The above mentioned recitations of Judge Moore's deficiencies of character alone in our opinion disqualify him from serving in and office of any kind. If this were all there was to Judge Moore we would end this blog post right now. But unfortunately more damaging allegations have come out against the Judge and these must be addressed.
On Wednesday November 9th, 2017 Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard and Alice Crites writing for the Washington Post reported that in 1979 then 32 year old Roy Moore propositioned then 14 year old Leigh Corfman. Here is some of Ms. Corfman's story:
"It was early 1979 and Moore — now the Republican nominee in Alabama for a U.S. Senate seat — was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. He struck up a conversation, Corfman and her mother say, and offered to watch the girl while her mother went inside for a child custody hearing.
Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.
“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” she remembers thinking. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.” Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.
Two of Corfman’s childhood friends say she told them at the time that she was seeing an older man, and one says Corfman identified the man as Moore. Wells says her daughter told her about the encounter more than a decade later, as Moore was becoming more prominent as a local judge."
Leigh Corfman is not the only woman who is making such accusations against Moore. The Washington Post story mentions three other women who have accused Moore of inappropriate behavior:
"Wendy Miller says she was 14 and working as a Santa’s helper at the Gadsden Mall when Moore first approached her, and 16 when he asked her on dates, which her mother forbade. Debbie Wesson Gibson says she was 17 when Moore spoke to her high school civics class and asked her out on the first of several dates that did not progress beyond kissing. Gloria Thacker Deason says she was an 18-year-old cheerleader when Moore began taking her on dates that included bottles of Mateus Rosé wine. The legal drinking age in Alabama was 19."
Before we get into some other aspects of this story. Here is some information about Leigh Corfman Judge Moore's chief accuser:
"According to campaign reports, none of the women has donated to or worked for Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, or his rivals in the Republican primary, including Sen. Luther Strange, whom he defeated this fall in a runoff election.
Corfman, 53, who works as a customer service representative at a payday loan business, says she has voted for Republicans in the past three presidential elections, including for Donald Trump in 2016. She says she thought of confronting Moore personally for years, and almost came forward publicly during his first campaign for state Supreme Court in 2000, but decided against it. Her two children were still in school then and she worried about how it would affect them. She also was concerned that her background — three divorces and a messy financial history — might undermine her credibility.
“There is no one here that doesn’t know that I’m not an angel,” Corfman says, referring to her home town of Gadsden.
Corfman described her story consistently in six interviews with The Post. The Post confirmed that her mother attended a hearing at the courthouse in February 1979through divorce records. Moore’s office was down the hall from the courtroom.
Neither Corfman nor any of the other women sought out The Post. While reporting a story in Alabama about supporters of Moore’s Senate campaign, a Post reporter heard that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls. Over the ensuing three weeks, two Post reporters contacted and interviewed the four women. All were initially reluctant to speak publicly but chose to do so after multiple interviews, saying they thought it was important for people to know about their interactions with Moore. The women say they don’t know one another.
“I have prayed over this,” Corfman says, explaining why she decided to tell her story now. “All I know is that I can’t sit back and let this continue, let him continue without the mask being removed.”
This account is based on interviews with more than 30 people who said they knew Moore between 1977 and 1982, when he served as an assistant district attorney for Etowah County in northern Alabama, where he grew up."
After examining all the information at our disposal it is our sincere belief that the accusations against Roy Moore are credible. We are not saying that Roy Moore is guilty. We honestly do not know. But we have no hesitation in saying that we have serious doubts about this man's innocence. Judge Moore's statement in an interview with Sean Hannity yesterday that he "didn't generally date teenage girls when he was in his 30's". Sounds eerily similar to actor Kevin Spacey's response to Anthony Rapp's accusation of abuse. In which Spacey responding to the charges against him said: "Spacey posted on Twitter that he did not remember the encounter with Rapp. "But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior," Spacey wrote. The bizarre responses on the part of Judge Moore and his defenders casts even more doubt on Judge Moore's personal integrity. In upcoming post we will be going further in depth with response from Judge Moore's campaign and also we will be hearing from what others have to say on this case. We will leave you with this video of an interview that Roy Moore's attorney Trenton Garmon gave last night to CNN's Don Lemon. After watching this interview we are convinced that either Moore's lawyer is a complete idiot, or he knows his client is up to some funny business and he is trying to tap dance around the issues. Very interesting behavior considering the statue of limitations has run out on these allegations.
Trenton Garmon's pathetic attempt to avoid answering Don Lemon:
UPDATE: Brian Stelter the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" has just tweeted the following statement from Paula Cobia attorney for Gloria Deason one of the women interview for the Washington Post about Judge Moore:
“Roy Moore is publicly making defamatory statements about the 4 brave women” — new statement from Paula Cobia, attorney for Gloria Deason pic.twitter.com/m0I2O3TZmp
It appears that if the word that the Moore campaign plans to sue the Washington Post over this story is true. That the women interviewed are prepared to hit back hard! Moore just better pray more damaging information doesn't come out about him!
UPDATE: CBS news has just reported that according to an old colleague of Roy Moore's in the Etowah County, Alabama District Attorney's office it was "common knowledge that Roy (Moore) dated high school girls". Click here for the full story.
We are going to take a break from our regular blogging for today and ask all of you out there to pray for the families and victims of the Sutherland Springs, Texas. During this very trying time. And also please pray for the health and well-being of Senator Rand Paul who was attacked at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Friday. Click here and here for more information on the Sutherland Springs and Senator Paul’s attack.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb HensarlingThomas (Jeb) Heb HensarlingGOP chairman tells agencies to exclude info from FOIA requests Plans to swap bank regs for capital hikes could prove costlyFour starting points for reforming Dodd-FrankMORE (R-Texas) announced Tuesday (October 30th, 2017) that he will retire at the end of his term. "Today I am announcing that I will not seek reelection to the U.S. Congress in 2018. Although service in Congress remains the greatest privilege of my life, I never intended to make it a lifetime commitment, and I have already stayed far longer than I had originally planned," Hensarling said. Hensarling has been set to lose his position as chairman of the Financial Services Committee at the end of this Congress; GOP rules limit a chairman to three consecutive terms. Hensarling said the term limits made it the right time to leave Congress to spend more time with his family.
From what we all have been hearing. Hensarling is a fairly decent member of the house. We cannot help but wonder if he is choosing to leave due to frustration with his life in congress. His seat is most probably a safe GOP seat. But if the number of incumbent republicans who decide to retire keeps growing. Then the GOP needs to get it's act together or they should get used to saying "House Speaker Pelosi" come January 2019.
It seems in a shocking turn of events that the CIA's Paper of Record the Indianapolis Star put out another decent story. This time from another one of our favorite reporters. IR has frequently cited the work of Kaitlain Lange on this blog. If the Star hires just a few more reporters like Ms. Lange, Fatima Hussein, and Tony Cook. We all here may have to slighty revise our long standing negative view of "Pravda Indianapolis". INDY REPUBLICAN does not think that will happen anytime soon. But we all believe in the redemptive power of prayer. So we will not give up just yet.
Now let's get down to business. Kaitlain Lange's October 27th, 2017 piece "Gov. Eric Holcomb travels to India on third international trip as Governor", will be the subject of this post. Most people who have read Gary Welsh's "Advance Indiana" blog. Will most likely be aware that the old master loved to call out Governor's Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence for their frequent "trade mission" trips. It was Gary's contention as well as IR's that these trips, unless proven otherwise, are a waste of taxpayer money and are simply an excuse for politicians and lobbyists to conduct underhanded and possibly illegal activities away from the eyes of the public.
The reason that the IR gang has not written about "trade missions" before. Is that although we share Mr. Welsh's negative view of these trips. We feel that we the people are better off when these politicians and parasites leave town. Yes they do waste taxpayer money by having the trips abroad. But they can and do waste more money and inflict more pain when they are in Indiana. So we have done our best not to encourage Holcomb and others like him from actually staying in town.
But honesty and our commitment to carrying the torch Gary Welsh light for all of us. We felt compelled to write about this. Notwithstanding our own feelings on the subject.
Gov. Eric Holcomb is traveling to India on Friday for his third international trade mission in his first nine months as governor
Holcomb and Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger will focus on expanding business opportunities for both countries as they meet with governor officials, business leaders and representatives of foreign chambers in Delhi, Bangalore, Mysore and Pune.
Holcomb previously traveled to Hungary and France in June and Japan in September for economic development.
"With recent, large job commitments from India-based companies, we are building even greater momentum to send more Hoosier-made goods to India and recruit more Indian businesses to grow here in Indiana," Holcomb said. "I'll remain focused on taking our state to the world and bringing the world back to our Hoosier communities."
Holcomb has made workforce development a priority since he became governor, creating a new position as the chief talent recruitment officer.
There are currently nine India-based companies in Indiana.
In March, Infosys became the latest Indian company to announce plans to add an Indiana site with the creation of a tech and innovation hub. The company will invest $8.7 million and employ up to 2,000 Hoosiers. Holcomb will meet with the executives of Infosys as well as Indian company Cummins while in India.
Since 2006, Indiana exports to India have increased 117 percent, totaling more than $266 million in 2016, while India imports to Indiana totaled $349 million.
India also has strong ties to the state's colleges: Purdue University, for example, had the largest enrollment of Indian undergraduate students in the U.S., with 881 students in the fall of 2016.
The international trade trips are funded by the Indiana Economic Development Foundation, which receives private donations.
INDY REPUBLICAN is skeptical to say the least that this trade mission is being funded by private donations. According to the government watchdog site ProPublica the Indiana Economic Development Foundation's address is listed as One North Capital Avenue in Indianapolis. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation created by former Governor Mitch Daniels is also located at One North Capital Avenue. The IEDC was created to replace the former Indiana Department of Commerce and has been frequently criticized for fabricating the number of jobs they have brought into Indiana among other things. To be fair the article only states that the IEDC Foundation receives private donations. It does not say it ONLY receives private donations. Nor does the article state that any private funding is being used for Governor Holcomb's little jaunt to India. Here is hoping that "Bagman" Holcomb does not do anything to asinine while in India. And remember no matter how disgusting it is that old Eric and the gang are traveling the world on trips of dubious value. We still want them to stay the hell out of this state.
For further information about the problems that have been plaguing the IEDC since it's creation back in 2005 click here and here to read Gary Welsh and Paul Ogden's articles on the matter.
