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Equality, Despite Our Differences.

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Editor’s Note: David Mailloux is an LGBT activist and an organizer with Join the Impact Massachusetts. He was an organizer for the National Equality March in Washington D.C., and was also part of the coordinating committee for the Maine LGBT Civil Rights March. I’m proud to have co-founded The Great Nationwide Kiss-In with David, and could not have done it without him. David’s first guest post here was, “Dear Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest Coordinators: I Have A Dream…“

I’ve been choking on the same couple of grains of rice since dinner, which was roughly an hour ago.

Mom and I decided on tempura vegetables and rice for dinner tonight, and we were watching CNN at the same time. Janice Langbehn – the Seattle woman who was forced to sit in the waiting room of a Miami hospital with her adopted children as her partner, and the children’s mother, lay dying in a nearby hospital room – was speaking about President Obama’s recent decision to allow all unmarried partners visitation rights in hospitals. Langbehn was recalling the pain of not being able to say goodbye to Lisa, the love of her life, and my mother was shaking her head with disgust. “That’s just not right,” she said. “There’s no reason that should have happened.”

Then, she turned the conversation around to something I had recently said in my Facebook, that I believed in some freedom in relationships, that I would allow for my partner (if I had one) to kiss another man if I knew he was still coming home to me, that the idea physically excited me sometimes. (And, yes, I sometimes forget that my often socially conservative mother is one of 936 Facebook friends and that she often pays close attention to everything I say on there.) That worried her. She supports full LGBT equality because it means her son and his friends will have a better life, but she worries that supporting marriage equality means supporting ideals in some relationships in which she may not believe.

I wanted to tell her that all marriages have quirks, and that a number of them involve different standards than what the right-wing or Christian-religious folks who support only “traditional” marriages between people of the opposite sex will accept. I wanted to remind her that love arrives in all different forms, that sexuality is a beautiful thing that we need to embrace. I wanted to tell her that supporting full LGBT equality didn’t mean she had to support those differences of opinion she might carry. She could support LGBT equality and love between non-related adults of any gender without supporting the differences. The bottom line was believing that my friends who were same-sex couples and who were partnered and wanted to marry had the right to marry.

Instead, I just choked on a couple of grains of rice that had decided to follow the wrong path to my stomach. I’m not terribly fond of aspirating rice, just so you’re aware, and my body is still telling me that as I write this.

The LGBT community is a microcosm of the rest of the world. We are – based on various studies you might read, from conservative “scientists” to Alfred Kinsey and beyond – anywhere from 10 to 30% of the population. We live a life not so different from everyone else. We are just people who were wired differently from birth. If you take a liberal Christian approach, we were all created by God and he made us this way. The conservative Christian approach suggests we are afflicted with a deviant hedonism that will lead to the downfall of humanity.

In my mind, we’re all just people. I wouldn’t dare jump into your dinnertime debates and challenge your ideals. Please don’t do the same to me. My philosophy, at the end of the day, can be summed up in just a few words: live and let live.

The lead editor of this extraordinary blog that I’ve been following for a year now is David Badash. In a phone conversation earlier this month, somewhere in between discussing boyfriends and love interests and whether or not I should buy an iPhone or a Blackberry (and David B loves his iPhone, so you know), he invited me to be part of this awesome world of his. And I accepted immediately, and he was truly excited. We’d known each other for nearly a year, when I had started my own blog, and we shared a mutual admiration for one another almost from the get-go.

But we’re very different people. He kept going with the blog, and I discussed the volume and occasional audacity of the grassroots. Neither of us has looked back, We press forward with the same passion we had since day one.

While I love him like a brother and we respect each other immensely, we both follow a different path when it comes to activism, the fight for full LGBT equality. His blog and his quiet socializing and strategizing with other brothers in the fight are how he works toward our common goal. Personally, I love to stand in the middle of the street with homemade signs and scream and chant and dance. I have plans to get arrested in the very near future, because I am loud and crass and angry.

We are very different. He has my utmost respect, and I’m pretty certain I have his. I don’t attack him or concern myself with his approach. He doesn’t question me. We know that what we do, every day, still brings us that much closer to our dream.

Live. And let live.

My friends Jonathan and Gregory – two of the dearest people I know – have dinner with politically-minded professional activists from the land of Gay, Inc. (that’s what some of us grassroots folks call the professional organizations who choose dinner parties over getting their hands dirty). Yet, they also adore Robin McGehee, the gorgeous, soft-spoken Mississippi native and mother of two who recently got herself arrested in front of the White House while chaining Lt. Dan Choi to the Obama’s wrought iron fence. They – that’s Jon and Greg, by the way – support whatever it takes to make our equality happen. They believe in the battle, regardless of how we choose to fight. They like Joe Solomonese, the Director of the HRC, as much as they like Robin McGehee.

They believe that we must live and let live.

My mother may disagree with how I express my sexuality sometimes, and Jon & Greg might not ever join me in the middle of the street as I scream at the top of my lungs, and David B may never get arrested alongside me in our struggle, but we all have that love in our hearts and souls and we desperately want a beautiful conclusion to this war in which we’re – passively or actively or somewhere in between – fighting for our lives or the lives of those we love. We all carry a common mindset.

And I look at the conservative Christians who claim the bible tells them something it truly doesn’t, but I can’t tell them differently. And I try to look into the eyes of the politicians who know, deep in their hearts, that supporting us is the right thing to do, but fear the wrath of their constituents when the ballot boxes are looking to be stuffed with their realities in November. And I pray to the journalists and the talking heads on CNN and the political pundits who occupy low-backed chairs and whose makeup melts among the bright lights of a studio elsewhere in the mediasphere. I want to believe that those among the intelligentsia are all thinking the same thing, and that they somehow make those beliefs known to the millions of hungry consumers throughout our great country.

We can all respect one another, despite our differences. I don’t have to agree with you and you don’t have to agree with me. But all I’m asking, as the great Aretha once wailed in soulful and musical desperation, is for a little respect. I will respect you. I will always give you that which you believe. I just want you to let me live my life.

Let me live the way God created me, just as everyone has let you live the way God created you. There is enough room in this world for both conservative Christian beliefs, and fluid sexuality, not to mention everything in between. There is room for chicken piccata and Armani, as well as torn jeans and hoarse screams on street corners – and everything else in between.

I am not saying we all have to get along. I am asking that you just let me live. That’s all I want.

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News

Leavitt’s Deficit Denial and the First Ever Trillion-Dollar Defense Budget Built on It

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16 hours ago

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May 19, 2025

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is bragging that President Donald Trump has submitted the largest budget ever for the Pentagon: one trillion dollars, about $150 billion more than President Joe Biden’s final budget request. Critics are blasting the White House for insisting that the Republicans’ new budget—which guts Medicaid, reduces taxes (primarily for the wealthy), and eliminates the Department of Education, does not increase the deficit.

“He’s gonna be the first president to introduce a trillion-dollar budget,” Secretary Hegseth told Fox News’ Will Cain on Monday (video below). “That’s not just spending more. It’s also being serious about an audit. It’s also finding cuts where we pull out the Biden garbage and put in President Trump’s priorities. So we’re going to invest a generational investment in those capabilities.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Monday if President Trump is “okay with this bill adding to the deficit?”

READ MORE: No Trump, No FEMA? Tornado Ravaged City’s Mayor Pleads for Federal Assistance

“This bill does not add to the deficit,” Leavitt insisted, before claiming that it “will save $1.6 trillion.”

Economist Justin Wolfers appeared to disagree, posting a chart that shows that the GOP/Trump budget legislation increases the deficit by more than one-third.

The Hill reported that the “tax portion of Republicans’ wide-ranging bill full of President Trump’s domestic priorities would cost $3.7 trillion over the next decade, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) found.”

“Tables from the JCT, which is the official revenue scoring body of Congress, show that extensions of the 2017 tax cuts and other measures will add about $5.6 trillion to the deficit, while cuts to renewable energy incentives and amped international tax enforcement will reduce the deficit by about $1.9 trillion.”

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U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) commented, “It doesn’t ‘save’ a $1 trillion, it slashes it from programs like Medicaid and SNAP, kicking millions of Americans off their healthcare and nutrition programs You also forgot to mention the other $3-4 trillion being spent on tax cuts for the wealthy that’ll explode our deficit.”

The Wall Street Journal delivered more math, saying that the GOP “plan won’t reduce federal budget deficits and would make America’s fiscal hole deeper.”

“The current proposal would increase projected budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion through 2034, locking in tax cuts and spending increases that outweigh reductions in spending on Medicaid and nutrition assistance. While Republicans, who have vowed to reduce red ink, say higher economic growth will fill the gap, budget analysts across the political spectrum have panned the Republican plan, warning that it worsens the U.S. fiscal picture.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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No Trump, No FEMA? Tornado Ravaged City’s Mayor Pleads for Federal Assistance

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19 hours ago

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May 19, 2025

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At least 28 people across three states were killed when tornadoes struck Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia on Friday, with a governor and a mayor calling them among the worst they’ve ever seen. Unseen, however, has been any acknowledgment or support from President Donald Trump or, according to some reports, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“What we need right now is federal assistance,” declared St. Louis, Missouri Mayor Cara Spencer on MSNBC (video below) on Monday, “we need federal assistance.”

“This is where FEMA and the federal government has got to come in and help communities,” Mayor Spencer urged. “Our city cannot shoulder this alone. The State of Missouri cannot shoulder this alone. We need partners at the national level, at the federal level to step up and help.”

Spencer explained, “this is what the federal government is for. We need your help, we need the help of the broader community.”

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“FEMA has not been on the ground—we do not have confirmed assistance from FEMA at this point,” Spencer said. “I do want to say, however, every other level of government has been on the ground with us, helping in every capacity possible. But when you have a disaster of this scale, eight miles of just pure destruction, this tornado didn’t just touch down and leave, this tornado ripped through our community for a full eight miles in the city of St. Louis, and this is an area that has needed help, that we need investment, you know, our North St. Louis has been neglected for a long time, and we need the help of our partners here.”

At a news conference, Spencer had called it “one of the worst storms,” ABC News reported. She said that “the devastation is truly heartbreaking—and let’s not forget people have lost their lives. We are continuing to make sure that we are identifying all those that are injured, in addition to the massive amount of property damage that has taken a huge toll.”

Tornadoes were reported in three more states, bringing the total to six states and 26 tornadoes.

“Over 462,000 customers were without power across multiple states, stretching from Michigan to Tennessee.”

As of publication time, NCRM was unable to find anything from President Donald Trump on his Truth Social page about the tornadoes’ death and destruction. It does not appear he has offered support or guidance, nor has he suggested he will visit the areas.

“You can not only see the destruction, you can feel it,” Kentucky Democratic Governor Andy Beshear told reporters on Saturday as he toured his state, according to ABC. “Beshear, who declared a state of emergency ahead of the storms, said he’s been governor for at least 13 federally declared disasters related to weather and this storm was one of the worst in terms of loss of life and damage.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a social media post made no mention of FEMA, but said that she had spoken to Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, “to offer federal resources and action for the deadly tornadoes and storms impacting Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois.”

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She suggested that the federal government would take a back seat to local efforts.

“We discussed how while emergency management is best led by local authorities, we reinforced that DHS stands ready to take immediate action to offer resources and support,” Noem wrote on Saturday. “Local emergency managers should swiftly notify people in the affected areas to take action to protect themselves and their belongings. DHS stands ready to help when a state needs, requests, and declares an emergency.”

Fred Wellman, an Army combat veteran and host of the “On Democracy” podcast from the St. Louis area, on Saturday wrote: “Yesterday my hometown was hit with massive tornadoes. We weren’t expecting them in places that have never been hit before and have no idea who will help us. FEMA is all but dead and our state is run by Republicans that hate the city. This is the canary in the coal mine.”

On his Substack he noted: “A tornado went through my town yesterday, and no one in this entire country is going to help us….and the ones that should are fine with that.”

Monday morning he added, “here we are two days later and not one peep from Trump or even a response from FEMA at all. 5 dead, 5,000 homes damaged, $1.6B in damage and not even a s—– Truth social post or email from FEMA.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Deeply Fascist’: Massive Banner of Trump on Government Building Sparks ‘North Korea’ Vibes

 

Image via Reuters

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White House Scrambles to Clean Up Trump’s Walmart ‘Rage Tweeting’ Amid Upcoming ‘Standoff’

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21 hours ago

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May 19, 2025

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President Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge over the weekend that tariffs function as a tax ultimately paid by American consumers—not foreign manufacturers—despite years of claiming the opposite. The remark sparked ridicule and forced the White House to scramble to clarify his comments, after Trump publicly demanded that Walmart “eat the tariffs” instead of passing the costs on to shoppers.

“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote on Saturday. “Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

When asked about Trump’s weekend remarks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday (video below) that the “reality is, as the president has always maintained, Chinese producers will be absorbing the cost of these tariffs, and that is why China was so quick to hustle to the negotiating table with the United States of America. They need our markets, they need our consumers.”

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Last week, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a press release: “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”

Leavitt was quickly criticized.

“The reality is the president was rage tweeting Walmart less than 48 hours ago after they announced price hikes due to Trump’s tariffs. Just constant lies from this White House,” commented Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott.

The White House’s efforts also came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday admitted that some tariffs “may get passed on to consumers.”

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NBC News on Monday reported that Trump taking on Walmart “over tariff price hikes” is setting up a “potential showdown” with the retail industry.

“The standoff between the president and Walmart now looms over the other major retailers reporting earnings this week, which include Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target as well as the TJ Maxx and Marshall’s parent company TJX. These companies may have initially felt Walmart’s signals about price hikes gave them cover to enact their own cost increases — but Trump’s remarks now put them at risk of also being targeted by the president.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Deeply Fascist’: Massive Banner of Trump on Government Building Sparks ‘North Korea’ Vibes

 

Image via Reuters

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