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For Santorum Gays In The Military Reveals Commander In Chief Inadequacy

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Why Rick Santorum’s behavior — and that of every Republican presidential candidate last night — was so un-American, un-patriotic, and unacceptable.

Rick Santorum has a gays in the military problem that reveals deep inadequacies for any Commander in Chief. Santorum appeared on Fox & Friends this morning to explain his comments at last night’s GOP Fox News/Google presidential debate, during which a gay Army soldier, Stephen Hill, just days after Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed, bravely asked, “Do you plan to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?” The Republican-filled crowd booed.

WATCH: GOP Debate: Audience Boos Gay Army Soldier Asking Santorum About DADT

The question was directed to Rick Santorum. In fairness, it was the Fox News moderator, Megyn Kelly, not the soldier, who directed the question to Santorum. But Santorum’s response reveals far more about Santorum than many might ever have guessed.

On Fox & Friends today, Santorum claimed that gays in the military will make soldiers will feel “uncomfortable” and “odd.” Santorum needs to be reminded that current estimates put the number of gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members currently on active duty in today’s military at over 60,000. Perhaps the desirous Commander In Chief would like to be responsible for losing 60,000 soldiers?

Santorum claimed this morning that America hasn’t “even begun seeing the consequences” of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. In a way, he’s right. There will be few consequences — negative, that is, — and many more positive ones.

“The men and women who sign up for the military are now going to be placed in very difficult and uncomfortable personal situations, very close quarter situations,” Santorum claims on Fox & Friends, falsely, in the video below.

“We got to recruit people who would want to do this and now you’re going to put them in a very odd and uncomfortable environment,” Think Progress quotes Santorum saying. “A lot of people, I believe are going to leave a lot of people aren’t going to join who otherwise would have joined, and that’s going to hurt our ratings, it’s going to hurt our ability to defend this country, and we shouldn’t be playing social experimentation… There is no role for playing sexual experimentation games in the United States military.”

WATCH: Santorum To Piers Morgan: Calling My Bigoted Views On Gay Marriage Bigotry Is Bigotry

Last night, after the debate, unfazed, Santorum continued his attacks, and actually had the gall to claim that repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been detrimental to gay, bisexual, and lesbian soldiers.

“We executed a policy that I think was detrimental to everyone, including them, in my opinion because sex and sexual preference should not be an issue in the military, period,” Santorum insisted, according to The Huffington Post. “And it should not be something that is demonstrated in any shape or form in the military, and it shows how much our culture has changed that this is even a subject to be debated within the military.”

Santorum has never served in our nation’s military.

There are 98 countries with volunteer militaries around the world. Santorum says that most of the militaries around the world that allow open service of gay soldiers — there are 43, by the way — are not volunteer militaries. Perhaps, but at 44%, it’s close. What’s more important, are cultural issues, something Santorum has built his political career on, and which militaries. If Santorum wants America to be like Pakistan, like Iraq, like Oman, well, then he’s on solid ground.

But if Santorum wants an America more like Albania, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Peru, the Phillipines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Urguay, and, the United States — yes, 24 countries have volunteer militaries and allow openly-gay service members — then he needs to change his tune.

Santorum should also remember that a federal court judge has found Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to be unconstitutional. That should mean something to a lawyer, which Santorum happens to be.

A word to Santorum, and to each and every one of the nine so-called presidential candidates who stood on that stage in Orlando, Florida last night while members of the audience (yes, Republican voters,) booed a U.S. service member: shame on you. Each and every one of them, had they been worried about being a good Commander In Chief, and not just pandering to right-wing voters, would have tripped over themselves to say, “Wait a minute. That’s a member of the U.S. military you are booing. If I were Commander In Chief, that’s something I would never allow.”

It would be worth the five votes they would have lost, and the thousands more they would have earned.

Yes, earned.

Because you know who in America boos soldiers? The Westboro Baptist Church. Yes, the “God Hates Fags” people are the only people in America I can think of who boo American soldiers. Well, and now, Republicans.

Last night, a gay soldier asked a question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the audience booed, and then the question went to Santorum. And Santorum’s first response — which is what is often most-telling about a person — was to talk about sex.

Santorum’s first response was, “I would say, any type of sexual activity has no place in the military.”

Sexual activity.

Santorum, like far too many right wing religious extremists, hears, “gay,” and thinks, “sex.” And he proved it last night.

If this was a question about heterosexual relationship, Santorum would have thought something entirely different.

For the record, also, Fox host Gretchen Carlson said, “President Obama got rid of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell a couple of days ago.” Not exactly fair or accurate, but given that Fox has nurtured a low-information audience, and rarely airs any stories (compared to all the other major news networks) on LGBT issues, their audience I’m sure didn’t blink. DADT, Gretchen, was repealed by an act of Congress. Obama initiated it, and deserves credit for helping make it happen, but it was not something he, alone, “got rid of.” Additionally, Gretchen, over 70% of Americans (yes, real Americans,) wanted DADT repealed, the one thing most Americans — except Santorum — can agree on.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=z6jnr5FI-qU%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

There’s a petition at Change.org demanding Santorum apologize. You should sign it.

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News

‘Bootlicking’: Johnson Ripped for Shrugging Off Trump Ethics Oversight

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2 hours ago

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May 14, 2025

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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says he has no concerns about any potentially unethical or unlawful actions being taken by President Donald Trump, arguing that Trump is acting “in the open.” Defending his decision not to pursue oversight, Johnson baselessly claimed that aggressive investigations into then-President Joe Biden were justified because his allegedly concealed actions were integral to what the Speaker called the “Biden Crime Family.”

Johnson’s top three committee chairmen were tasked with investigating President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and on his watch a formal impeachment investigation was opened. The committees in part relied on a former FBI source who later admitted he had made up the lies about President Biden and his son.

Speaker Johnson on Wednesday was asked whether he is “equally concerned about President Trump’s family’s business dealings, especially given the fact that he is in a region now where his family has billions of dollars in investments in Doha, Saudi Arabia, and the fact that he has a crypto business now, where he’s auctioned off access to the White House for the highest bidder in his meme coin?”

“Look,” Johnson replied, “there are authorities that police the executive branch, ethics rules. I’m not an expert in that. My expertise is here in the House, okay?”

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“I will say that the reason that many people referred to the Bidens as the ‘Biden Crime Family’ is because they were doing all this stuff behind curtains in the back rooms,” Johnson alleged. “They were trying to conceal it, and they repeatedly lied about it, and they set up shell companies into a family was all engaged in getting all on the dole.”

“Whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open, they’re not trying to conceal anything,” Johnson insisted.

NBC News’ Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent Ryan Nobles, who had asked the initial questions, informed Speaker Johnson that “the investment in the meme coin, those folks, are not transparent. We do not know who those people are.”

But Johnson vowed ignorance, while insisting that others have oversight responsibilities.

“I don’t know anything about the meme coin thing. I don’t, don’t know. I can just tell you that, I mean, President Trump has had nothing to hide. He’s very upfront about it, and and there are people who watch all the ethics of that, but, I mean, I’ve got to be concerned with running the House of Representatives, and that’s what I do.”

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“Congress has oversight responsibility, but, um, I think, so far as I know, the ethics are all being followed, so…”

Critics blasted the Speaker.

“Congratulations to @SpeakerJohnson for making Chapter 15 of Profiles in Sycophancy!” said U.S, Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), mocking the Speaker. “Can’t believe it took you this long. ‘It’s not crime if it’s out in the open except for the memecoins I don’t understand’ isn’t a legal opinion. It’s bootlicking.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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Trump to Middle East: ‘You’re the Envy of the World’

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4 hours ago

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May 14, 2025

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President Donald Trump, during his visit this week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, declared the Middle East “the envy of the world,” “the center of the world,” while asserting that the region’s leaders know exactly “where my loyalties lie.”

The “America First” president, aiming to sign defense and economic agreements worth about $2 trillion, also announced the end of sanctions on Syria. Trump has also been lobbying to accept a controversial and possibly unconstitutional gift from Qatar of a $400 million “flying palace” luxury jetliner, to use as Air Force One.

“I’ve seen tremendous unities, tremendous friendship, and the whole world is watching the Middle East, and many are watching with envy,” Trump declared, according to video from Bloomberg News, as he lavished praise on the Middle East leaders. “You have something very special going on. Incredible opportunities are within reach for this region.”

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Trump, who offered no praise for the U.S., blasted his predecessor repeatedly during his remarks, telling the Middle East leaders that “the Biden administration created havoc and bedlam by basically being incompetent, but by empowering Iran and its proxies, sending them billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars.”

“Everybody at this table knows where my loyalties lie. Always have,” he insisted. “They’ll never waver, never. And we’ll stand with our friends and partners, and we’ll confront the aggression that threatens us all.”

Trump claimed that “we have a mandate from the American people, the likes of which people haven’t seen for 129 years. They say it was the most consequential election in America in 129 years. So that sounds like a long time, so we’ll take that.”

“It’s all started on November 5th with the election, but a stable and peaceful Middle East will be a successful and prosperous Middle East, and that’s what you’ve done, and that’s what you’re doing. And, you know, it’s amazing because when I was here last, it was fine, it was doing good, and then I see the things that you’re doing here, and in your countries, it’s just an incredible, what you’re doing is the whole world is talking about it. The whole world is watching us,” Trump said.

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“The whole world, the whole world is talking about what you, what you’re doing and you’re the envy of the world together. We’re in this room and we’re going [to] forge a Middle East that well be a thriving commercial, diplomatic and cultural crossroads at the geographic center of the world. That’s what it is. It’s the center of the world.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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Image via Reuters

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‘Wild Negative Coattails for Trump’: Omaha Elects Its First Black Democratic Mayor

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6 hours ago

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May 14, 2025

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Voters in Omaha, Nebraska just elected their first Black mayor, Democrat John Ewing Jr., in a historic shift, ousting a three-term Republican who has held that office since 2013. Some political observers say it’s the shape of things to come, as President Donald Trump’s favorability continues to drop and prices continue to rise, with more instability — economic and political — expected ahead.

Ewing, a former deputy police chief, beat Jean Stothert, who tried to embrace the MAGA agenda without fully embracing President Trump.

“Omaha’s Republican mayor Jean Stothert was a 12-year incumbent, once seen as untouchable,” observed Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott. “Then she endorsed Trump, ran on anti-trans bathroom bans — and lost decisively. A clear rejection of MAGA at the ballot box.”

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Calling it “a fresh test of voter attitudes in a politically competitive slice of the country,” The Washington Post described Stothert as “a formidable opponent,” whom “Democrats sought to tie…to President Donald Trump’s unpopular agenda — another warning sign for Republicans in a critical battleground area.”

The New York Times, describing Omaha as “a politically divided city that has outsize importance in presidential elections,” reported that “the race provided an opportunity for strategists from both parties to gauge voters’ moods — even if much of the campaign focused on municipal nuts-and-bolts issues like street paving, crime and a planned streetcar.”

“Another example of a red to blue flip,” U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) said. “Voters are angry at Republicans who are enabling the harmful policies of Trump.”

Kamala Harris won Omaha’s single electoral vote by about five points. Ewing, with results not yet official, appears to be winning by about ten points.

“Democrats just beat the longest-serving incumbent mayor in the country in Omaha, Nebraska, where I grew up,” declared Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, a former Harris advisor. “Jean Stothert was considered unbeatable, and they did it. That’s how much of a drag Trump is right now.”

“Wild negative coattails for Trump,” Nellis noted, and called it “a political shockwave,” where “Republicans are panicking.”

Watch Ewing’s victory speech below or at this link.

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