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Anti-Gay Hate Groups Are ‘Simply Fighting For Their Values’ Says Family Research Council

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Family Research Council Teaming Up With Catholic League To Wage War On Southern Poverty Law Center And Gays

Since 2010 the Family Research Council has been included on the Southern Poverty Law Center‘s list of active anti-gay hate groups. The Family Research Council doesn’t particularly care for that designation. They erroneously blame the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate group” label for a shooting last year at their Washington, D.C. headquarters which left a guard/maintenance worker wounded in the arm. But that lone attack does not make the label of anti-gay hate group any less appropriate.

It is extremely appropriate.

LOOK: How Does The Discovery Channel Feel About Being Used By A Certified Hate Group?

Contrary to what the Family Research Council and other anti-gay hate groups like the American Family Association will tell you, the Southern Poverty Law Center doesn’t call them hate groups over a difference of opinion on social issues. The Southern Poverty Law Center labels these groups anti-gay hate groups because they have demonstrated over time a pattern of lying about gay people.

skitched-20130807-154246

Image of Family Research Council headquarters staff supporting last year’s anti-gay “Eat At Chick-fil-A Day,” posted to their Facebook page

Case in point:

“Our principal concern is not with people who experience involuntarily same-sex attractions as much as it is with engaging in homosexual conduct, which we believe is harmful to the people who engage in it and to society at large.”

[Bolding ours]

That was the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg, on Tuesday, filling in for FRC President Tony Perkins on his daily radio show. (You can listen to it, and read Jeremy Hooper’s response over at Good As You, or listen to it and read Zack Ford’s response over at Think Progress.)

But to be fair to Sprigg, that rhetoric isn’t really representative of his comments about gay people. Usually, his words are filled with much more anti-gay hate.

Case in point:

February 3, 2010, on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews:

Matthews: Let me ask you Peter, so you think people choose to be gay.

Sprigg: People do not choose to be have same sex attractions, but they do choose to engage in homosexual conduct. And that conduct also which incidentally is against the law within the military. It violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It doesn’t make any sense for us to be actively recruiting people who are going to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Matthews: Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg: Well I think certainly…

Matthews: I’m just asking you, should we outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg: I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas which overturned the sodomy laws in this country was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.

Matthews: So we should outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg: Yes.

skitched-20130807-153940Image posted by the Family Research Council to their Facebook page

Now, enter CNS News, a project of anti-gay extremist and Fox News contributor Brent Bozell III. Bozell III’s claim to fame includes his father — who in 1954 co-authored the book McCarthy and His Enemies, which defended the disgraced Senator Joe McCarthy, and which the New York Times called “a bald, dedicated apologia for ‘McCarthyism.'” Bozell III’s other claim to fame is his group of anti-left watchdog websites which are expert at twisting truth and logic into pretzels. And Bozell happens to sit on the Board of the Catholic League — more on that later.

LOOK: If Anyone Needs ENDA It’s Conservative Christians, Not Gays, Says Tony Perkins

Bozell’s CNS News Tuesday, in an interview with Southern Poverty Law Center co-founder Morris Dees, wrote that FRC shooter Floyd Lee Corkinsattempted a mass shooting on Aug. 15, 2012, opening fire at the Family Research Council and  wounding Security Guard Leo Johnson.”

Armed with more than 95 rounds of ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-a sandwiches, Corkins told the FBI that he chose the FRC as his first target after looking at a list of “anti-gay” groups on the SPLC’s website.

CNSNews.com questioned Dees about the Hate Map when he was in Washington, D.C.,  last week, asking whether his group has ever considered removing the FRC since the revelation from Corkins,” the gunman who shot the FRC guard.

“Well, first of all, having a group on our Hate Map doesn’t cause anybody to attack them anymore than they attacked us for one thing or another,” Dees said.  “This group that says gay people—statements attributed to their people said that gay people caused the Holocaust.  Demonstrably false things they say about gay people.

“It’s not on our Hate Map because they’re against gay people—and many, the Catholic Church is against people who are gay, so as others—it’s because of the demonstrably false things they say about people that are just total lies that demean gay people, they cause people to attack gay people,” he said.

“They claim that somebody attacks them because they say hateful things, think about how many gay people get bashed because these people say that gay men are pedophiles, which is demonstrably false,” Dees said.

Now, enter the infamous Bill Donohue, head of the (pretty much) one-man show, the Catholic League.

“In a statement to CNSNews.com, the Catholic League took umbrage with Dees’s remarks,” CNS writes:

“Morris Dees is a man in search of people and institutions to hate,” Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said.  “Branding the Family Research Council a hate group is not only irresponsible, it trivializes the status of hate-ridden groups that have claimed real victims.”

“Now Dees is casting the Catholic Church as the enemy by misstating its teachings,” he said.  “Nothing the Catholic Church has ever said about the moral status of homosexuals—which is as irrelevant as the moral status of heterosexuals—could possibly be construed as hateful.”

“Quite frankly, no amount of remedial education can help someone who can’t tell the difference between sexual orientation and sexual behavior,” Donohue said.

“Stupid or malicious, either way the guy [Dees] is a disgrace,” he said.

And now back to the Family Research Council.

LOOK: Nothing Catholic Church Has Said About Gays ‘Could Possibly Be Construed As Hateful’ Says Donohue

“Our team is still dealing with the fallout of the attack, that was intended to have a chilling effect on organizations that are simply fighting for their values,” FRC Executive Vice President Genneral Jerry Boykin (ret.) told CNSNews.com:

“We are very disturbed that the Southern Poverty Law Center is now expanding its reckless attacks against the Catholic Church,” said Boykin.  “The SPLC has made false and inaccurate claims against the Family Research Council for years.   The SPLC should fact check their own statements before making reckless accusations.”

“Hate labeling is dangerous enough but outright misrepresentation of the facts further increases the likelihood of an attack on an organization similar to FRC,” said the general.

“Simply fighting for their values”? Really?

It is shocking that int his day and age, with Google and YouTube, the Family Research Council actually thinks they are not an anti-gay hate group.

Because their “values” and their words make it quite clear they are.

And those who surround themselves with hate group leaders should remember the old adage about “the company you keep…”

Photo by marcorubiofla

Via an image posted by the Family Research Council to their Facebook page

 

Image, top, via Family Research Council on Facebook
Related:

Guns Vs. Gays: Tony Perkins’ Extremely Dangerous Hypocrisy

Tony Perkins: Straight Felon Arrested During Seattle Pride Is A ‘Homosexual Activist’

Morally Straight? Hate Group Publishes Anti-Gay Ad Urging Boy Scouts To Vote Against Equality

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‘People Are Really Angry’: Fury Over Musk and DOGE Triggers Spike in Calls to Congress

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Members of Congress say they are being flooded with calls from angry constituents about President Donald Trump’s Director of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, and what he is doing inside the federal government.

“Senators’ phone systems have been overloaded, lawmakers said, with some voters unable to get through to leave a message. The outpouring of complaints and confusion has put pressure on lawmakers to find out more about Musk’s project, heightening tensions between the billionaire tech mogul and the government,” The Washington Post reports.

Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska “said the Senate’s phones were receiving 1,600 calls each minute, compared with the usual 40 calls per minute. Many of the calls she’s been receiving are from people concerned about U.S. DOGE Service employees having broad access to government systems and sensitive information. The callers are asking whether their information is compromised and about why there isn’t more transparency about what is happening, she said.”

READ MORE: ‘Bring Him Back’: JD Vance Wants Musk to Rehire 25 Year Old DOGE ‘Kid’ After Racist Posts

On Monday, the Office of U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) said, “We’re receiving reports of phones being offline across the Senate. Our office is immediately at work to address the issue and get our phones online again.”

U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) called it, “a deluge on DOGE”

“Truly our office has gotten more phone calls on Elon Musk and what the heck he’s doing mucking around in federal government than I think anything we’ve gotten in years. … People are really angry,” she told The Post.

On social media, Senator Smith added, “Musk is unpopular because Americans can see that he’s running rampant inside the federal government and no one believes he’s doing this to help us — he’s doing it to help himself. That’s what corruption looks like. I’ve been getting more calls into my office in the last week than any time I can remember. People are mad about it and they should be.”

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“We can hardly answer the phones fast enough. It’s a combination of fear, confusion and heartbreak, because of the importance of some of these programs,” U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) told The Post, saying “he’s been hearing from constituents ‘constantly’ on DOGE and Musk.”

The surge of telephone calls appears to have been going on all week.

“Callers are getting busy signals and voicemail inboxes are full at many U.S. Senate offices as people try to reach out and voice their opinions on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, executive orders and moves to dismantle various federal programs,” the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. “The influx of phone calls — which some in the Senate say are at unprecedented volumes — come as Trump and ally Elon Musk are working to shrink the federal government during the president’s first weeks in office. They are shuttering agencies, temporarily freezing funding and pushing workers to resign, all while staffers with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency infiltrate departments in a stated effort to root out fraud and abuse.”

READ MORE: Pam Bondi Quietly Disbands DOJ Task Force Targeting Russian Oligarchs

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Bring Him Back’: JD Vance Wants Musk to Rehire 25 Year Old DOGE ‘Kid’ After Racist Posts

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Vice President JD Vance is under fire after encouraging Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk to re-hire the 25-year old whose racist posts led to his reported resignation.

The Wall Street Journal broke the story that a “key DOGE staff member who gained access to the Treasury Department’s central-payments system resigned Thursday after he was linked to a deleted social-media account that advocated racism and eugenics.”

“Marko Elez, a 25-year-old who is part of a cadre of Elon Musk lieutenants deployed by the Department of Government Efficiency to scrutinize federal spending, resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked the White House about his connection to the account,” the Journal reported.

According to The Journal, that account posted, “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” and, “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.”

READ MORE: Trump Inherits Biden’s ‘Astonishing’ Jobs Legacy, But Prices Are Now Climbing on His Watch

“Normalize Indian hate,” was another post, according to the Journal, which noted that it was “in reference to a post noting the prevalence of people from India in Silicon Valley.”

“The user appeared to have a special dislike for Indian software engineers,” the WSJ added.

That account also posted, according to the Journal, “I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, wrote on X about the posts, and asked, “Does this not sound like someone shaped by the same ideology that fueled apartheid South Africa?”

U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) added, “Elon Musk thinks racism is OK, as long as Twitter says so. This man should not be anywhere near our government.”

Journalist Jay Bookman, a columnist for the Georgia Recorder, also weighed in. He wrote, “I wonder what made the kid think racism had suddenly become cool. Who was he hanging out with that would make him think such a curious thing? Elon, do you know?”

READ MORE: Pam Bondi Quietly Disbands DOJ Task Force Targeting Russian Oligarchs

Friday morning, Musk asked his 216 million followers on his social media site X, “Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?”

As of this writing, 78% said “Yes.”

The Vice President, a Republican from Ohio, responded to Musk.

“Here’s my view,” Vance, unprompted, wrote. “I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”

Critics were quick to chastise the Vice President.

“Then bring him back! You’re the big tough guy with all the power now, right? (or at least you work with those two guys),” scolded former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau. “You don’t get to play the victim anymore and hide behind the mean journalists and the cancel culture libs. You’re in charge now. If you want to hire back the guy who says he’s ‘racist’ and couldn’t be paid to marry outside of his ethnicity – who said he wants to ‘normalize Indian hate’ – do it! Not sure I could look my family in the eye if I did something like that, but maybe you can. So live your truth, pal. Bring back the racist.”

Some were quick to remind Vance that his wife, who has faced attacks from white supremacists, is of Indian heritage.

Technology executive Anil Dash commented, “This is about the CRIME of giving this man access to the treasury — everyone already knows you don’t care about having your wife and children humiliated by your fellow MAGA racists. He’s not a child, and no one appointed him or the other known security threats at DOGE.”

Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen added, “The husband of an Indian-American wife and the father of 3 Indian-American kids wants to bring back the staffer who posted “normalize Indian hate.”

Others rejected the idea that a 25-year old is just a “kid,” especially since those posts reportedly were made last year.

“He’s either a kid who is too young and stupid to be held accountable for his actions. Or he’s an adult with a taxpayer-funded job that includes having access to American’s most sensitive information, which demands a high standards and accountability. Can’t have it both ways,” noted The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell.

“So he’s a racist kid with no impulse control, but he should have access to the system that doles out trillions of dollars of the federal budget and see all of our personal information,” observed Daily KOS’s Emily C. Singer.

Others pushed back against Vance’s attack on the media, making clear that America has a right to know.

“Setting aside everything else (i.e. ‘kid’), it would seem to be in the public interest to understand whether someone with such a consequential job is a secret racist,” wrote The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake. “That’s what reporting is. People can react how they will. He’s not only in the arena; he’s a central player.”

“I get that there’s no shame and decency left,” economics writer Joey Politano said, “you can self ID as a racist eugenicist and still have insanely important roles in this admin, but the most insulting thing here is treating a 25 year old like a uwu smol bean child who can’t be held responsible for his actions.”

“A 25-year-old is not a kid. He made blatant and disgusting racist posts in the last few months,” commented veteran Jared Ryan Sears, who writes The Pragmatic Humanist. Quoting what someone said is not ‘ruining their life’ it is reporting. It is shameful to defend such a terrible person while demonizing a journalist for reporting about him.”

Former White House correspondent Sam Youngman offered a big picture view: “Too weak to stand up for his own family. Think he’ll stand up for yours?”

READ MORE: ‘Last Thing I Want Is That Guy’: Dem Warns Against Musk ‘Trying to Control the Airspace’

 

Image via Reuters

 

 

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Trump Inherits Biden’s ‘Astonishing’ Jobs Legacy, But Prices Are Now Climbing on His Watch

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The January jobs report has been released, showing unemployment remaining near historic lows. As President Donald Trump takes over, he is inheriting what one noted economist is calling President Joe Biden’s “astonishing” and “beautiful” jobs record and labor market. But beyond employment figures, key benchmarks, such as the prices of essential goods like eggs, coffee, and gas, are drawing attention—leading some to wonder if last year will be remembered as the actual “golden age” for everyday consumers.

“In many respects, Donald Trump inherited the “golden age” he claims to be ushering in. All he really needs to do is not screw it up,” Reuters editor-at-large Mike Dolan wrote two days after Trump’s inauguration. “In economic and financial terms, the United States has rarely been in better health.”

But President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and economic policies, and his promised “mass deportations,” coupled with his efforts to slash the federal government workforce, could come with strong financial and even personal health costs to everyday Americans.

For the month of January, the unemployment rate dropped, from 4.1% to 4%.

READ MORE: Pam Bondi Quietly Disbands DOJ Task Force Targeting Russian Oligarchs

“Except for January 1970, the unemployment rate is lower today than it was in *every single month* of the 1970s, 80s and 90s,” wrote portfolio manager Eddy Elfenbein. Professor of Economics Justin Wolfers, a frequent cable news guest, responded: “This is an astonishing (and beautiful) fact, and we really ought to celebrate it. The labor market is in terrific shape, and continuing to improve. If the economy continues its momentum (a big if, to be sure), the unemployment rate isn’t far from returning to its fifty year low.”

But according to The New York Times, the “fresh numbers suggest that the labor market may be losing momentum heading into the second administration of President Trump, whose policy agenda — including sharp cuts to federal payrolls and large-scale deportations of unauthorized migrants — could affect both employment and the availability of workers.”

During his campaign, President Trump vowed he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” That has not happened, and there is little to suggest he has made any tangible progress.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture now says the price of eggs will likely jump by 20 percent in 2025,” Politico reported this week. “An executive order Trump signed in January placed deregulation at the center of his cost-cutting strategy.”

The White House has suggested Trump’s energy policies will also lead to dramatic price drops for families.

“President Trump is already taking bold action to drive down costs with his executive actions to unleash American energy, and he is working diligently with Secretary Brooke Rollins to address the price of eggs,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Politico, the news outlet reported.

But the price of eggs is being directly impacted by a massive Bird Flu outbreak across the country, and it does not appear the Trump administration has taken steps to end it. Meanwhile, farmers have had to kill over 148 million birds, including chickens and ducks, to prevent the spread of the disease.

It could get worse.

“The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reported in an exclusive on Thursday. “The job cuts under consideration would affect the Department of Health and Human Services, which employs more than 80,000 people and includes the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in addition to the FDA and CDC.”

READ MORE: ‘Last Thing I Want Is That Guy’: Dem Warns Against Musk ‘Trying to Control the Airspace’

“The agencies,” WSJ added, “are responsible for a range of functions, from approving new drugs to tracing bird-flu outbreaks and researching cancer. A loss of staff could affect the efforts depending on which workers are cut and whether they are concentrated in particular areas.”

Politico adds, “The White House has in recent days taken drastic steps to reorganize USAID and strip the embattled agency of its autonomy. USAID’s headquarters were closed Monday and Secretary of State Marco Rubio named its acting administrator. Trump doubled down on Tuesday, taking steps to put nearly all of the agency’s Washington-based staff on leave.”

“But shutting down an office that fights diseases worldwide will only mean prices stay high, Democrats argue.”

It appears the international health community is concerned.

“The US has the most cases of bird flu in humans globally,” the Financial Times reports. “Scientists have called for increased vaccination of farm workers and more efforts to stem the spread among farm animals as the H5N1 pathogen continues to infect cattle and chickens across the country.”

“It is arguably grossly irresponsible for the US authorities to allow such sustained high level of virus transmission in dairy cattle as this poses such a major threat to global human health,” Professor James Wood, an infectious diseases expert at the UK’s Cambridge University, told FT.

President Trump’s promise to lower the price of gas “on day one” has also not materialized.

“Amid the threat of tariffs, the national average for a gallon of gas ticked up two cents from last week to $3.13,” according to AAA on Thursday, which tracks gas prices.

In addition to Bird Flu and its impacts, there’s reason to believe food costs will continue to rise.

Bloomberg energy and commodities columnist Javier Blas reported Wednesday that “Wholesale Arabica coffee prices rise above $4 per lb in New York — an all-time high and more than double the level of a year ago.”

Blas says “just the threat” of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Columbia, the world’s third-largest coffee producer, “is enough to scare the market.”

And he’s predicting a “coffee inflation wave” for this year, and says retail coffee prices “are going to go up between 20% and 25% in the next few months.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Vows to Eradicate ‘Anti-Christian Bias,’ Says ‘We Have to Bring Religion Back’

 

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