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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presidential debate, during which a gay Army soldier, Stephen Hill, just days after Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed, bravely asked, “Do you plan to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”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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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Fox Host Says Democrats Don’t Believe in Heaven So They Play ‘Hard’ to ‘Perfect’ Earth

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June 4, 2023

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Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy blamed the differences between Republicans and Democrats on religious beliefs about Heaven.

On Sunday’s Fox & Friends program, co-host Pete Hegseth argued religion was liberating because people could realize they aren’t perfect. A video clip of the moment was shared on social media.

“It changes the way you look even at politics,” Campos-Duffy agreed. “And sometimes, you know, we look at how hard on the left they play. They really play for keeps. They play in a way that’s very, you know, a lot of times conservatives look at it and go, why don’t we play as hard as them?”

The Fox News host said Democrats were trying to perfect the Earth because they did not believe in Heaven.

“Well, for them, where we live right now, this place, Earth is it,” she opined. “So everything’s on the line here for them. They think, as you said, they can perfect this Earth. Those of us who have faith don’t believe that. And we believe how we act here determines where we go after. And so we had to behave.”

“And so even in politics, we don’t, you know, we act within those moral limits,” Campos-Duffy insisted. “And you know, the ends justify the means is sort of the rules for radicals. That’s not how Christians act.”

Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link.

 

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News

Extremist Group Targets Florida High School’s Yearbook Over Inclusion of LGBTQ Students Section

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June 3, 2023

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The publication of a Florida high school yearbook that included an LGBTQ section has drawn rebuke from a conservative group, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

Lyman High School’s 256-page yearbook includes two pages that highlight the school’s LGBTQ students and features gender identity terms such as “genderfluid” and “nonbinary.”

The Seminole County Public Schools in response to the criticism is offering to issue refunds or reprint the yearbook without the LGBTQ section that the conservative Seminole County Moms for Liberty claims is offensive.

“They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” the group’s chapter chair Jessica Tillmann told The Sentinel.

“This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”

The school’s yearbook is stirring controversy for a second straight year after the district in 2022 considered putting stickers over photos of a student walkout protesting the so-called “don’t say gay” law, the report said.

The Sentinel’s Skyler Swisher reports that “An LGBTQ+ section in this year’s yearbook includes a picture of members of the student’s Gay-Straight Alliance, definitions of key LGBTQ+ terms, a passage on the evolution of pronouns and a profile of a student who advocates for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Danielle Pomeranz, the school yearbook’s faculty advisor, isn’t on board with the district’s decision to remove the LGBTQ content.

“They are definitions,” Pomeranz told The Sentinel.

“They are not teaching anything about sex at all. … Nobody is teaching anybody about sex acts. It is ridiculous.”

Pomeranz has since resigned from her position in the district, citing in part the Sunshine State’s political climate and an unsupportive district, the report said.

“We’ve always had the LGBTQ+ spread in there,” she said.

“Our job as journalists and members of the yearbook staff is to provide coverage of the entire school and that includes all of the communities, including the LGBTQ+ community.”

Read the full article here.

Image via Shutterstock

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘No Longer the Lord’s Chicken’: ‘Christian Woman’ Says She’s ‘Grieving’ Over ‘Woke’ Chick-fil-A Hiring a Diversity Officer

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June 2, 2023

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A self-described “Christian woman” who is a contributor to the far-right wing students organization Turning Point USA, is being widely mocked for posting a video attacking Chick-fil-A over claims the conservative, privately-owned, faith-based fast food restaurant chain recently hired a diversity officer.

“So I’m grieving,” the video, apparently by Morgonn McMichael (below), begins. “It’s lunchtime. I’m here with Aubrey. And we really wanted some Chick-fil-A but because they decided to hire a diversity, equity and inclusion corporate position, and also bow down to the woke lord because their ESG scores, and also I found out do you know their chicken is funded by BlackRock and Vanguard? Yeah their farms, they use Tyson and this other farm, BlackRock and Vanguard funded chicken.”

If you think that’s a mouthful just wait, there’s more.

“Chick-fil-A,” Morgonn continues, “you are no longer the Lord’s chicken. You’re actually the woke chicken and I’m really upset about it as a Christian woman. All we wanted was some good fried chicken so now we’re gonna go to Cane’s, we’re going to try it out.”

READ MORE: Classified Pentagon ‘War Plans’ Document Trump Bragged About in Audio Recording Is Missing: Report

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is a Louisiana-based fast food restaurant with 600 locations in the U.S. and Western Asia.

“This is really difficult because there’s a Chick-fil-A is across the street. Now eating chicken fingers instead of chicken nuggets. I know, first world Christian woman problems, but no one will ever understand the love that I had for Chick-fil-A.”

“You know, we’re taking this boycott Chick-fil-A thing seriously, and it’s really difficult.”

The video was posted to Twitter by the anonymous group PatriotTakes, which has been described as a liberal political action committee. It quickly went viral, garnering over 2 million views in just eight hours. Late Friday afternoon Morgonn tweeted, “sarcasm and satire are things the left doesn’t seem to understand.”

For those who don’t know, Turning Point USA, a far-right Christian nationalist organization, was founded by the ultra-MAGA Charlie Kirk, now a member of the highly-secretive Council for National Policy.

CNP’s membership list also includes former Trump attorney, ally, and advisor Cleta Mitchell, and Ginni Thomas.

“CNP members range from the leaders of the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, to the Southern Poverty Law Center designated anti-LGBTQ hate groups Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom,” Documented reported last year.

Turning Point USA was in the news last week after Rolling Stone reported: “Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA Teamed Up With a Registered Sex Offender.”

Meanwhile, over at TPUSA, Morgonn McMichael’s bio says she is “a Gen Z social media influencer from Texas whose effort to empower and inspire America’s next generation of young conservative female leaders through patriotic online video content has amassed over 100,000 unique social media impressions every week on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and more.”

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Want Reality’: Senate Republican Explodes Over Origin of Concept of Race – Calls to Teach ‘Jesus Loves Me’ Instead

“Morgonn has dedicated the last year promoting freedom of speech, religious liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government both online and across TPUSA campus chapters. Morgonn has also reached tens of thousands of viewers of all ages with her articles and appearances on Newsmax, Real America’s Voice, OAN, and Breitbart, offering insightful cultural commentary into the most pressing issues concerning young conservatives today.”

Apparently, Chick-fil-A’s diversity officer (more on that next) is one of “the most pressing issues concerning young conservatives today.”

Morgonn did claim Chick-fil-A “decided to hire a diversity, equity and inclusion” officer.

Well, stunningly, the company – long known for its hate-filled attacks on same-sex marriage – did, over a year ago.

A USA Today fact check found Chick-fil-A hired Erick McReynolds, its vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, more than a year and a half ago. The company even has a DEI page featuring him on its corporate website.

PatriotTakes also tweeted, “TPUSA Contributor Morgonn, who is now calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-a, previously said, Cancel culture is toxic’ and ‘needs to be canceled.'”

As some social media users pointed out, Cane’s Chicken Fingers is very pro-LGBTQ.

READ MORE: Decision to Not Charge Pence in Classified Docs Probe Is ‘Prelude to DOJ Seeking Charges Against Trump’: Legal Expert

“Since its inception in the early 2000s, Raising Cane’s has been a strong supporter of the LGBT community,” San Diego Gay & Lesbian News (SDGLN) reported in November. “The chicken chain was one of the first companies to offer domestic partner benefits to its employees and has been a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. In 2015, Raising Cane’s was named one of the best places to work for LGBT Equality by the Human Rights Campaign.”

In response to Morgonn’s video, Mississippi Free Press editor Ashton Pittman posted this screenshot from a Raising Cane’s tweet:

Over at TPUSA, Morgonn has written content including a piece titled, “Disney’s Male Employee in a Dress Sparks Outrage,” that begins, “At Disney, anyone can be a princess — even a grown man.”

Also, “Disney in Decline: Company Loses Billions Due to Woke Agenda.”

Noted actor and activist George Takei weighed in, tweeting simply, “They’ve lost their goddamned minds.”

Watch Morgonn below or at this link.

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