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Breaking: Anti-Gay Catholic Archbishop Investigated For Sexual Misconduct With Men

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One of the nation’s most active and notorious anti-gay crusaders, Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt, reportedly is under investigation by his own diocese for sexual misconduct with other men, including other priests.

John Nienstedt has a long and dark history of not only opposing marriage equality, but of actively investing a reported $650,000 of the Roman Catholic Church’s funds to prevent same-sex couples from marrying. It could easily be said of the nation’s most active anti-gay crusaders, he’s on a top ten list. Before the 2010 election, the 67-year old Archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul spammed 400,000 Minnesota homes with unrequested anti-gay DVDs in a failed attempt to get voters to ban same-sex marriage. Not only did his efforts fail, but lawmakers actually later ushered in marriage equality.

Undeterred, last year Nienstedt claimed that “Satan” is “the source” of same-sex marriage. He also told the mother of a gay man she could go to hell if she did not embrace the Church’s teachings on homosexuality.

But now, Commonweal Magazine reports that Nienstedt own diocese is investing him for sexual misconduct with other men, including priests, having received ten signed and sworn letters of accusation.

Nienstedt denies the allegations, claiming, “I have never engaged in sexual misconduct and certainly have not made any sexual advances toward anyone.” he also artfully spun the charges in a statement, according to the Atlantic Wire. “The allegations do not involve minors or lay members of the faithful, and they do not implicate any kind of illegal or criminal behavior.” 

Commonweal offers some background on Nienstedt.

Nienstedt was named an auxiliary bishop of Detroit in 1996, and became bishop of New Ulm, Minnesota, in 2001. Just six years later he was appointed coadjutor of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was installed as archbishop in 2008. Before long, Nienstedt had established one of the signature issues of his episcopate: homosexuality. His statements on that issue add controversy to the investigation of his own behavior.

“Those who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts…formally cooperate in a grave evil and, if they do so knowingly and willingly, are guilty of mortal sin,” Nienstedt wrote late in 2007. That echoed a column he wrote the year before—while bishop of New Ulm—cautioning Catholics against watching Brokeback Mountain, a film about two married cowboys who fall for one another. He wondered whether Hollywood knew just how dangerous their “agenda” was: “Surely they must be aware that they have turned their backs on God and the standards of God in their quest to make evil look so attractive.”

In 2009, Nienstedt temporarily stepped down from his post after being caused of inappropriate contact with a young boy in 2009. He was not charged in the case.

Nienstedt’s statement on the allegations today ends with this sentence: “Let us pray that the truth will come out as a result of the investigation.”

 

Related:

Cops Trying To Investigate Sex Abuse At St. Paul Archdiocese: ‘We Have Been Told No’

With Failed Appeal, Archbishop Forced to Testify About Role in Sex Abuse Cover-Up

 

Image: Screenshot via YouTube

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‘People Are Scared’: Newsom Hits Back at Trump as Border Patrol Makes Arrest Outside Rally

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California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has spent the week mocking President Donald Trump, adopting Trump’s signature social media style — extreme, self-promotional, hyperbolic, all-caps — to deliver taunts about his plans to counter Trump’s directive for Texas and other red states to redraw their congressional maps, a move aimed at reducing the number of Democratic-held districts and paving the way for Republicans to hold the House in November.

Governor Newsom’s focus has been on what he is calling his “Election Rigging Response Act,” legislation where he will ask voters in November to allow California to redraw its congressional district maps to respond to President Trump’s unprecedented move to conduct redistricting outside the constitutionally mandated decennial censuses.

Fox News declared on Thursday that “Gavin Newsom is in on the act now.”

READ MORE: Inflation ‘Starting to Boil’: Dire Economic News for Trump — Worst in Three Years

Newsom’s social media team called out the Trump administration Thursday afternoon, after it noticed Border Patrol agents outside his Los Angeles redistricting rally.

In a stunning turn of events, however, the masked Border Patrol agents outside Newsom’s rally started arresting people.

Fox News happened to have Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem live on-air when it ran video of at least one arrest. The Fox News hosts praised the move.

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“This is coming from our reporters in L.A. right now, where they say that border patrol has arrived just outside of the downtown L.A. Venue where Governor Gavin Newsom was actually holding a press conference today, and it appears that those border Patrol agents are making arrests, illegal immigrants that are — I don’t know if they were at this press conference, if they were in the area, but this is the area … when we first saw this video, it is a very ‘in your face’ way to let, you know, Democrats know that you are gonna do your job, that you’re going to carry out these Trump policies.”

“One of the speakers in the runup to Newsom’s event just warned this would be happening and held it up as another reason why Californians needed to get behind Newsom’s answer to Texas and Trump,” reported NBC News Senior National Political Reporter Natasha Korecki.

Newsom responded in real time to the arrests.

“And right outside, at this exact moment, are dozens and dozens of ICE agents,” the governor told rally attendees. “Donald Trump — you think it’s coincidental? — Donald Trump and his minions, Tom Homan — tough guy —he decided, coincidentally or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrests.”

“People are scared,” Newsom continued. “People are fearful.”


Watch all the videos and social media posts above or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Melts Down Over Elizabeth Warren’s Accusations

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Most Economists Don’t Agree With Us’ Admits Trump Trade Chief as Costs Climb

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Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s top trade official and the architect of his massively unpopular trade war and sweeping tariff plans, admits that the majority of economists do not agree with the administration’s stance that tariffs are actually “tax cuts.”

Tariffs are taxes paid by importers on goods and services as they enter the country, and those costs often make their way to consumers through higher prices. While some businesses initially absorbed the added expense when President Trump’s tariffs began, July’s wholesale prices jumped 0.9% — more than four times the 0.2% economists expected and the largest monthly increase in over three years — signaling that consumers will be bearing more of the burden.

Not according to Navarro, the Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing who was sentenced to prison for contempt of Congress after the first Trump administration.

“No tariffs, no tax cuts,” Navarro told CNBC on Thursday (video below), referring to the massive tax cut package— central to President Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”—that the administration claims will be partly offset by collected tariff revenue.

READ MORE: Inflation ‘Starting to Boil’: Dire Economic News for Trump — Worst in Three Years

“Are tariffs price hikes or tax cuts?” Navarro posed. “I say they’re tax cuts.”

“I mean, many, many economists would say that they’re tax hikes,” the CNBC host replied, “because ultimately, a consumer will pay for some of those increased prices.”

“Look,” a frustrated Navarro responded, “that debate has been going on since the first [Trump] term, and most economists just don’t agree with us.”

“The problem with most economists is they got it wrong the first time around, just, spectacularly wrong. So, who has credibility here? The Trump administration, or the economists?”

The CNBC host continued, saying, “we’re hearing from retail companies about passing on higher prices to the consumer. Who do you see is paying for all of these tariffs that are coming in? I mean, it’s either the people who buy the stuff, the people who make the stuff, or the people who sell the stuff.”

Navarro was quick to respond.

READ MORE: Trump Melts Down Over Elizabeth Warren’s Accusations

“It’s the foreigners, the exporters who are heavily dependent on this market, and we see this clearly in the data,” he claimed, contrary to multiple reports that show importers and retailers are increasingly passing on the tariff costs to consumers.

“We’ve collected over $100 billion in tariffs already,” he continued. “We’ve had zero inflation from that.”

Experts disagree.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said Trump’s tariffs will add about four-tenths of a point onto inflation, according to Reuters. Wholesale prices in July spiked 0.9%, far higher than expected.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Dr. Oz: God Gave Medicaid Users a Desire to ‘Change the World’—Not Watch TV

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Dr. Oz: God Gave Medicaid Users a Desire to ‘Change the World’—Not Watch TV

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Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, disparaged “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients, alleging they spend hours each day watching television or engaging in other “leisure-time” activities instead of pursuing what he called their God-given desire to change the world. He asked why anyone would question the government would not want to get people to be wealthy.

The vast majority of “able-bodied” people who use Medicaid, a government safety net medical insurance program that does not provide income to recipients, are already working at least one job. In the majority of families that use Medicaid, at least one adult is working a full-time job. The majority of Medicaid users are children, people living with disabilities, or the elderly, who are unable to work.

“You want people to actually get out of their homes and go do things,” Administrator Oz told CNBC on Thursday (video below). “An able-bodied person on Medicaid today watches about 6.1 hours of television, or just hangs out — leisure time.”

READ MORE: Inflation ‘Starting to Boil’: Dire Economic News for Trump — Worst in Three Years

“That’s a lot of time,” Oz insisted, claiming his data is sound.

“No one’s gonna be happy sitting at home 6.1 hours a day doing nothing,” he insisted.

“Your desire to go out and do something, to change the world, is given to you by God, the moment you’re born,” Oz proclaimed. “We want people to go out there and live their fullest lives, so asking people to go out and either volunteer at a position, get educated, get engaged with your community, or go get a job, and we’re gonna help you do that.”

Complaining about critics, some of whom say the new work requirements are counter-productive or designed to kick people out of Medicaid, Oz retorted, “I don’t understand how you could possibly say, that’s a bad thing for America, for us, not to want to get people to be wealthy, to go out there and change their own lives for the better.”

Last month, Dr. Oz declared that the Trump administration will no longer “tolerate” what he called a culture that makes it “easy to be sick in America.” Framing childhood illness as a failure of parenting and physical activity rather than medical need, Oz linked obesity to national security and warned that industries would be forced to cooperate—or face government retaliation.

Critics blasted Dr. Oz’s remarks.

READ MORE: Trump Melts Down Over Elizabeth Warren’s Accusations

“So the ‘earnest effort to save Medicaid’ is shaming low-income Americans for watching TV, coming from the guy who made his millions off of people watching his shows,” noted Wall Street investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze.

“This is pure class prejudice,” Odinikaeze charged. “The reality he ignores is that many Medicaid recipients are working poor, disabled, or caretakers, not lounging all day. Access to care keeps people healthy enough to work, care for family, and live with dignity. And cutting Medicaid isn’t about ‘saving’ it; it’s about gutting it so tax breaks for the wealthy can keep flowing.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump’s Kennedy Center Remarks Veer Into Grievances, False Claims, and Lessons on Grass

 

Image via Reuters 

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