{"id":14994,"date":"2015-04-03T13:21:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T20:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=14994"},"modified":"2015-04-03T13:21:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T20:21:55","slug":"open-thread432015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/03\/open-thread432015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–4\/3\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still well short of 100%, but the news at hand is too important to leave it to Republicans to misinterpret.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 3:52 (average 5:33).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Media Matters<\/a>: <\/font>CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled a lawmaker who sponsored Arkansas’ "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" (RFRA), demonstrating the hypocrisy of conservatives who deny that "religious freedom" laws are intended to protect anti-gay discrimination.<\/p>\n

Conservative media outlets have been scrambling to defend "religious freedom" laws in places like Indiana and Arkansas, which provide a legal defense for businesses and individuals who cite their religious beliefs in order to refuse service to LGBT customers. Proponents of these two states’ RFRAs have<\/a> repeatedly denied<\/a> that the "religious freedom" laws would allow for anti-LGBT discrimination, despite evidence<\/a> to the contrary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the April 1 edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper, Tapper interviewed Arkansas state Senator Bart Hester (R), a sponsor of the state’s proposed RFRA. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declined<\/a> to sign the measure into law today, suggesting that it be reworked to more closely mirror federal law. Tapper began the interview by asking whether RFRA would allow Christian business owners to discriminate against same-sex couples if they felt serving them would violate their religious beliefs. Hester responded that RFRA doesn’t allow discrimination but would allow Christian businesses to refuse gay customers.<\/p>\n

The result was an awkward four minute exchange during which Tapper repeatedly tried to get Hester to acknowledge that refusing service to a gay couple is, in fact, discrimination:<\/p>\n