Homophobic Lawmaker Officially Rebuked For Misogynistic, Racist Remarks
Sally Kern, the homophobic Oklahoma state legislator who last week made racist and misogynistic comments on the House floor, has received an official rebuke from her peers. On Monday, Kern apologized, then was rebuked by a 76-16 vote.
“Is this just because they’re black that they’re in prison or could it be because they didn’t want to work hard in school?” Kern asked last week, adding “I taught school for 20 years and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t want to work as hard — they wanted it given to them.”
The Oklahoma legislator added, “women usually don’t want to work as hard as a man” because “women tend to think a little more about their family.”
In June of 2009, Kern wrote, “Granting marriage status to homosexuals who comprise little more than 3 percent of the population would be like granting all applicants admission to a prestigious college just because a few meet the qualifications. That school’s status would fall. Likewise, the status of marriage will fall if same-sex marriage is legalized.”
The following month she signed a “Proclamation for Morality,†which blamed the U.S.’s economic crisis on, among other acts of “debauchery,†same-sex marriage.
“WHEREAS, we believe our economic woes are consequences of our greater national
moral crisis; and
WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion,
pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and
many other forms of debauchery; and
WHEREAS, alarmed that the Government of the United States of America is forsaking
the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built; and
WHEREAS, grieved that the Office of the president of these United States has refused
to uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in giving recognition to our National Day of
Prayer; and
WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States
disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month to
an immoral behaviorâ€
In 2008, Kern said, “Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell of this country. I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam — which I think is a big threat, okay? Cause what’s happening now is they are going after, in schools, two-year olds…And this stuff is deadly, and it’s spreading, and it will destroy our young people, it will destroy this nation.”
Here is the text of Kern’s apology:
“I want to humbly apologize for any statements last night about women and African Americans. My words were, obviously, not spoken correctly and for that I humbly apologize. Unfortunately, when we take “words or sentences” out of the total context of a speech debated on the floor, there can be false misrepresentations, but the most important part is to always go to the heart of the matter.
“I never intended to convey anything more than all races include people who can be lazy at times. Laziness never accomplishes much for anyone. Certainly laziness is not the reason for this but it can be a contributing factor just as it can be for any other race. I completely agree with Martin Luther King’s statement that it should be the content of one’s character and not the color of their skin by which we judge them. I have endeavored my whole life to practice that statement and truly believe that we are all created equal. In a very inadequate and poorly worded way I was meaning to say that government should not give preference based only upon race or gender. I deeply regret the anguish and insult I have caused to all African Americans and sincerely apologize and ask for your forgiveness. My husband and I serve in an inner city church ministering to people of every race because we love all people.
“I also want to humbly apologize for my statement that women do not work as hard as men. Every woman is a CEO–a Chief Everything Officer. Whether they enter the work force or stay at home, women are some of the hardest workers in the world. When a woman enters the work force, because they have a job and a family they often decide not to make the same level of commitment to their job as a man does simply because they must juggle home and job. Thank God for the many wonderful men who understand this and help their spouses but the saying “a woman’s work is never done” certainly shows that women have to balance the two more than most men. Usually, women are more family-first orientated. This is all I meant. There are thousands of women all over the world who are wonderful examples of hard workers.  Also, please keep in mind, I am a working woman.
“We live in a sound bite society and our media likes to take only a portion of a dialog and use just a slice of it. You can take a portion of something someone says and make it say anything you want it to say. Without a doubt, what I said was poorly stated and did not convey the meaning I wanted to get across for this I am truly sorry and humbly apologize.”
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Highly sensitive information belonging to several top national security officials from the Trump administration—including passwords and cell phone numbers linked to their Signal accounts—is publicly available online. The encrypted messaging app was used in a major breach of classified national security information earlier this month, according to a leading German news outlet, DER SPIEGEL, which concluded that it is “conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group” discussions.
“DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials,” the news site reported Wednesday. The top officials include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—all of whom were part of the Signal chat in which a military attack was mapped out and carried out.
The sensitive information has been used by the three top officials in various ways, and reportedly remains in use.
READ MORE: ‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
Some are “linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s data was “particularly easy for DER SPIEGEL reporters to discover,” including his cell phone number and email address.”
The reporters “turned to a commercial provider of contact information that is primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment,” and then they “sent the provider a link to Hegseth’s LinkedIn profile and received a Gmail address and a mobile phone number in return, in addition to other information.”
“A search of leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in over 20 publicly accessible leaks. Using publicly available information, it was possible to verify that the email address was used just a few days ago.”
READ MORE: ‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
The DER SPIEGEL investigation, it said, also “revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices.”
But National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s data was also easily accessed, including “several passwords for Waltz’s email address in leaked databases. The information also led to Waltz’s profiles for Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal.”
“DER SPIEGEL reporting has demonstrated, though, that privately used and publicly accessible telephone numbers belonging to [Gabbard] and Waltz are, in fact, linked to Signal accounts,” the German news outlet states. “It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike.”
That essentially voids the arguments made by the Trump administration, Republican lawmakers, and right-wing news outlets which have said that the military strikes were successful, and no Americans were harmed so the breach of national security is, as President Trump claimed, a mere “glitch.”
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
Image via Reuters
As Signalgate enters its third day and Pete Hegseth emerges as the central figure in what experts warn may be a serious—and possibly illegal—breach of classified information protocols, House and Senate Democrats are coalescing around a single goal: building the case while calling for the immediate resignation, or firing, of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Politico‘s national security correspondent Robbie Gramer reports that “multiple White House insiders and GOP Congressional staffers argued to me that the reason this is turning into a scandal is because of Hegesth’s comments in the groupchat — not [Mike] Waltz for setting the groupchat up.”
“They said,” he added, “the real concern is what Hegseth said, and the sensitive information on Yemen strike plans that Hegseth volunteered without prompting in the groupchat.”
During Wednesday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) blasted the 18 Trump administration national security officials who participated in the Signal group chat, during which Secretary Hegseth reportedly shared classified information in an insecure environment.
RELATED: ‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
Making his case for Hegseth’s immediate resignation, Congressman Crow got confirmation that both the National Security Agency and the Pentagon had issued warnings about the use of Signal and the vulnerabilities surrounding it. DNI Tulsi Gabbard admitted to Crow that she was part of the Signal text chain, along with lead Russia negotiator Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow during the chat and possibly using a personal phone, which he has denied.
“I deployed three times to combat in service to this nation,” Crow said, during the end of his remarks (video below). “I learned in that time in service that responsibility is core to leadership. You accept responsibility when things go wrong, you admit mistakes, you set the standard from the very top.”
“It is completely outrageous to me, completely outrageous to me the administration officials come before us today with impunity. No acceptance of responsibility. Excuse after excuse after excuse while we send our men and women down range to do incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous things on our behalf. And yet, nobody is willing to come to us and say, ‘this was wrong, this was a breach of security and we won’t do it again.'”
“It is outrageous and it is a leadership failure and that’s why Secretary Hegseth, who undoubtedly transmitted classified sensitive operational information via this chain, must resign immediately. There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there is accountability, and I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability.”
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, blasted Hegseth’s claim that he shared no classified information in the Signal chat: “Pete Hegseth is a f—— liar. This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately.”
Conservative commentator Bill Kristol of The Bulwark remarked, “Prediction: Hegseth gone by Friday.”
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
NCRM has complied a very partial list of congressional Democrats who are calling for Secretary Hegseth’s resignation, or his firing. (Links go to their video or statement.)
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA)
U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ)
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY)
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), says Hegseth “should be fired.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)
U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
Watch the video below or at this link.
“There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there’s accountability. And I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) says Pete Hegseth ‘must resign immediately’ following leaked signal chat pic.twitter.com/rzw9xPM7ia
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 26, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Makes Me Want to Throw Up’: Democrat Goes Off on Fox Host Over Signalgate Spin
Image via Reuters
In response to the Trump administration’s disinformation-and-discredit campaign, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, has released the full Signal chat at the center of the growing national security scandal. National security experts and other analysts and experts, after reviewing the exchange, are sharply rejecting the administration’s efforts to downplay the severity of the breach. Many assert that, contrary to official claims, classified information was clearly shared by unsecured means—violating established protocols, internal policy, and potentially federal law.
The Trump administration and its Republican allies have been waging a disinformation campaign and pushing back against the credibility of The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief, after he revealed on Monday that he had been inadvertently added to a group text chat on Signal that took place over a number of days and involved the planning of a military strike against a terrorist group in Yemen.
The use of what has been called an unsecured chat on the messaging app Signal, likely on private, not government phones, while various members of the 18-person group were traveling overseas, including in Moscow, constitutes extreme violations of accepted national security practices, experts say. The conversations should have been held via secure communications, inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
The President, the White House Press Secretary, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of Defense, and other officials — along with top Republican lawmakers and right wing media outlets—have all claimed that information in the Signal chat was not classified.
In sworn testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the CIA both insisted none of the information shared in the Signal chat was classified.
Experts disagree.
“The information Secretary of Defense Hegseth disclosed in the Signal chat was classified at the time he wrote it, especially because the operation had not even started yet, according to a US defense official and another source who was briefed on the operation,” CNN Pentagon and national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported.
“It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court martialed for this,” the official said, Bertrand wrote.. “We don’t provide that level of information on unclassified systems, in order to protect the lives and safety of the servicemembers carrying out these strikes. If we did, it would be wholly irresponsible. My most junior analysts know not to do this.”
Barbara Starr, the iconic, now former CNN Pentagon correspondent for two decades, focused on Trump National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, who admitted he set up the chat and inadvertently included Goldberg. She wrote:
“Waltz revealed an extraordinary detail when he said there was intel showing the top Houthi missile guy walked into a building. You only know that if you have overhead surveillance, comms intercepts, or an operative on the ground. It means the US had ‘pattern of life’ surveillance. How is that not classified?”
READ MORE: ‘Makes Me Want to Throw Up’: Democrat Goes Off on Fox Host Over Signalgate Spin
NBC News senior congressional reporter Scott Wong reports that two House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Republicans are denouncing the Trump administration’s handling of Signalgate.
“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data. They should just own up to it and preserve credibility,” U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said.
After reviewing the Signal text chain, U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) “said he is concerned about Hegseth sending this detailed information over the messaging app,” Wong also reported.
DesJarlais, chairman of the HASC subcommittee on Strategic Forces said: “It should have never happened and must not happen again.”
Joseph J. Collins is a retired U.S. Army colonel, professor of national security strategy at the National War College, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations. He currently leads the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University.
Dr. Collins, responding to Starr’s remarks, wrote: “Important point … this fiasco compromised or potentially compromised sources and methods, possibly including our agents and stringers on the ground.”
Veteran, veterans’ activist, and Amherst College political science lecturer Paul Rieckhoff declared: “Hegseth must step down or be removed. Any member of the Department of Defense that did this would be in prison. There is no way someone that did this can lead our military as SecDef. And even he knows it.”
“Everyone on this chat probably has to go. Everyone. They all know the rules,” he continued. “Loose lips sink ships. Everyone who’s ever served knows that line. It’s OPSEC 101 that every Private learns in Basic Training. And a f— up like this could have cost American lives. There is no spinning it. Hegseth’s got to go.”
“We can’t have a SecDef who doesn’t follow the same rules and standard he’s expected to hold for millions at DoD,” Rieckhoff added. “There’s no wiggle room. Stakes are too high. Our troops lives depend on it. And our enemies are celebrating.”
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is one of a handful of top Democrats who have been vociferously contesting the administration’s claims. Based on his extensive military and high-level of government service, late Wednesday he simply wrote: “Well, they lied. Obviously.”
Former CIA lawyer Brian Greer posted screenshots from The Atlantic’s report, and the regulations surrounding what is classified information. He wrote: “This is all very plainly classified at the SECRET level. They all lied. They should all lose their jobs.”
Apparently referencing Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing during which the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified, claiming there was no classified information shared, Greer wrote: “There was quite a bit of perjury yesterday.”
See his social media posts below or at this link.
On the left: Hegseth’s message.
On the right: the applicable CENTCOM classification guide provisions.
This is all very plainly classified at the SECRET level.
They all lied. They should all lose their jobs. https://t.co/koVfF4SIhN pic.twitter.com/D8Iaxh7zcd
— Secrets and Laws (@secretsandlaws) March 26, 2025
RELATED: ‘Sloppy, Careless, Incompetent’: National Security Chiefs Slammed in Senate Hearing
Image via Reuters
‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
Passwords, Contact Info for Top Trump NatSec Officials ‘Publicly’ Available: Report
Passwords, Contact Info for Top Trump NatSec Officials ‘Publicly’ Available: Report
‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
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