“Start takin’ it to the streets…”

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Start takin’ it to the streets. Boom, boom, boom, boom. There’s twenty! Cha-ching.

That is what Marrero, Louisiana pastor Grant Storms said to a group of anti-gay activitists at the International Conference on Homo-Fascism in 2003 in Milwaukee. But when Action Wisconsin pointed out that Storms was advocating the murder of gay people, Storms sued the group for defamation of character.

Action Wisconsin has now been awarded $87,000 in attorneys’ fees by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Patricia McMahon, who declared the group’s interpretation of Storms’ remarks “reasonable,” and who went on to say that the lawsuit lacked merit. She also chewed out Storms’ attorney, James Donohoo of Milwaukee, for filing a lawsuit she called “a waste of time.”

Donahoo plans to appeal the award.

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We were built for times like these

Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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