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Is William Gheen A Gay-Hating Gay-Baiter?

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William Gheen thinks U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is gay. Graham, the senior Republican Senator from South Carolina, has served in both houses of Congress, first in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1995, then in the U.S. Senate in 2003. Graham is one of the few Republican Senators who from time to time has been rumored to actually care about bi-partisanship and at least trying to work with the Obama White House. That’s just too left-wing for Gheen, who is accusing Graham of hiding his supposed homosexuality.

Gheen, the head of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) thinks being an in-the-closet gay makes Graham untrustworthy.

Via Huffington Post:

According to Gheen, being gay is “a secret that Lindsey Graham has.”

Gheen told the crowd: “I hope this secret it isn’t being used as leverage over Senator Graham, so today I think Senator Graham, you need to come forward and tell people about your alternative lifestyle and your homosexuality.”

“Barney Frank is more honest and brave than you,” Gheen continued, referring to the openly-gay Massachusetts congressman.

ALIPAC has posted the video titled “US Senator Graham is Gay” — and tagged with the keywords “queer” and “fag” — on YouTube, where various news outlets have covered it.

And this, via Salon:

Exactly what Graham’s sexuality — which has been the subject of rumors in South Carolina for years — has to do with border security isn’t particularly clear. (When asked, the unmarried Graham says he’s not gay, he’s just single.) He is the lone Republican who’s trying to work with Democrats on immigration reform this year; Gheen appears to have decided that makes him fair game for, well, just about anything. The insinuation that he’s only supporting immigration reform because he’s trying to keep something hidden is pretty slimy, though, even by the standards of ALIPAC.

Gheen’s remarks at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, S.C., won him instant notoriety online, and now it seems like he’s trying to capitalize on his fame by being even more outrageous. Which highlights the potential downside of all this Tea Party energy for Republicans — the passion the activists have for ideological purity can lead to situations, like this one, where the GOP is the target of their ire.

Catch that “remarks at a Tea Party rally” bit? Yeah, but those Tea Party folks are just like you and me, and not racist or homophobic, right, Glenn Beck? Bull.

Here’s the point I want to make.

I don’t give a damn if Lindsey Graham is gay. Frankly, given his politics, I’m certainly not a fan. If he is, good for him. I hope he has someone in his life who means the world to him, and if he is I’m sorry he would feel obligated to hide it. I also will call him on it, given his extreme anti-gay stance on LGBTQ issues.

Gheen is calling Graham gay because (1) He obviously doesn’t like gays, and thinks it’s wrong to be gay; (2) He has a problem with gays, since he tagged the video mentioned above “queer” and “fag.” (3) He wants someone even more right-wing in Graham’s seat. (4) He wants attention.

Actions like Gheen’s are the very essence of what’s wrong with how the Right has treated homosexuals since we were called homosexuals.

We were marginalized, made to hide, forced into behaviors because we were demonized. Then, those behaviors were demonized and used as “evidence” of our being demons, and evil, vile creatures, unfit for things society values, like marriage, military service, government service, and, well, even just existing. Yes, existing. (Last year, Pennsylvania state Senator John Eichelberger said gays are “not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist.”)

So, once demonized, we then became “untrustworthy,” because someone, LIKE GHEEN, might out us. “You can’t trust someone who has a secret!” What a great formula. Demonize an entire segment of the population, then demonize them more because you could out them.

Were gays not demonized and marginalized, I have every confidence we would have been equal members of society, no different than the Cleavers of “Leave It To Beaver,” or “Ozzie and Harriet.” (Not that anyone was really like the Cleavers, or, Ozzie and Harriet, nor am I advocating a particular lifestyle, but you get my drift.)

Everyone has secrets, Mr. Gheen. I’m sure you do too. Usually, it’s the ones who scream the loudest who are trying to deflect attention from their own demons.

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News

‘Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot’: Critics Fume Over Trump’s Rose Garden Revamp

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First Lady Melania Trump’s renovation of Jackie Kennedy’s iconic Rose Garden during Donald Trump’s first term drew widespread criticism. Now, President Trump is renovating that space once again—this time transforming it into a Mar-a-Lago-style patio—sparking a fresh wave of backlash from critics.

President Trump defended what Newsweek described as “bulldozing” part of the Rose Garden, saying the change was intended to make the space more accessible for women wearing high heels, according to The Daily Beast. The renovations also involve removing several trees, including a saucer magnolia reportedly planted to honor President John F. Kennedy.

“It’s supposed to have events,” Trump said of the Rose Garden. “Every event you have it’s soaking wet,” he complained.

“The women with the high heels, it’s just too much… the grass, it doesn’t work. We use it for press conferences. It doesn’t work.”

READ MORE: Trump Starts Weekend Early After Griping Workers Get Too Many Days Off

The White House has done little to inform the American people about the construction, leaving critics to ask questions including who is paying for the construction, and is there a federal agency or commission that approves changes to the White House, given its centuries-long history.

“The White House is a national symbol and not the personal property of any president. Permanent changes should be reviewed by preservation experts and consider public sentiment, not be made unilaterally for vanity or political messaging,” wrote Molly Ploofkins, a social media user whose bio says she is a retired Army medic.

“We’ve got money to bulldoze the White House Rose Garden and turn it into a Mar-a-Lago-style patio, but we can’t pay for cancer research for kids or make sure veterans aren’t living off food stamps,” remarked Democratic strategist and former Harris senior advisor Mike Nellis.

READ MORE: ‘People Will Die’: Shock Over Trump Shutting Down LGBTQ Youth Suicide Hotline Is Growing

“I love how people keep pointing out that private donations paid for it—not the government. I don’t give a s—,” Nellis added later. “The issue is this administration’s priorities. Trump thinks it’s fine to bulldoze the Rose Garden to build a patio so he can relax outside, while doing nothing to improve your life. That’s the criticism. He’s enriching himself, screwing everyone else, and not lifting a goddamn finger to help you. That’s the problem.”

Journalist Jane Coaston remarked, “I am increasingly of the view that Trump wants to ‘be president’ so he can watch musicals and manage the rose garden and he just lets other people be co-president for periods of time so he has more time for musicals and rose garden management.”

“RIP to the White House Rose Garden,” observed former Obama White House photographer Pete Souza. “Today the Rose Garden is being ripped apart as construction begins to pave over the entire grass area. A sad, and unnecessary, day for what used to be the People’s House.”

“The White House rose garden was established in 1913,” noted WAMU’s Esther Ciammachilli, before lamenting, “Trump has just paved paradise and put up a parking lot. This is not his house. It belongs to the American people. He is just a tenant. Nothing is sacred anymore.”

Image via Reuters

 

 

 

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COMMENTARY

Trump Starts Weekend Early After Griping Workers Get Too Many Days Off

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After stalling on a decision in the escalating Middle East crisis and delaying action—some say potentially in defiance of federal law—on the congressionally mandated TikTok ban, President Donald Trump, facing sliding poll numbers, a widely criticized budget bill on the brink of collapse, a looming debt ceiling showdown, and apparent tensions with his Director of National Intelligence, is heading to his Bedminster golf resort for a MAGA dinner and an early weekend likely to include several rounds of golf.

The decision to leave the White House early on Friday comes after he left the G7 early this week, reportedly to make a decision on whether or how to help Israel attack Iran. His former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, jokingly said Trump exited the conference with top world leaders because he was “bored,” The Hill reported.

The President is slated to exit the White House at 2 PM Friday.

READ MORE: ‘People Will Die’: Shock Over Trump Shutting Down LGBTQ Youth Suicide Hotline Is Growing

“With the world on edge, the president’s early departure underscores a pattern critics say reflects misplaced priorities, favoring fundraising and familiar retreats over the day-to-day demands of governance,” MeidasTouch News reported.

The long weekend also comes just hours after President Trump denounced “too many days off” for federal and other workers, a remark he made on Juneteenth, a federal holiday signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. Trump had campaigned on passing the legislation to honor and celebrate the day that symbolizes the end of slavery, but made no mention of it this year.

“Too many non-working holidays in America,” Trump decried Thursday evening.

“I know this is a federal holiday.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. “I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We’re working 24/7 right now.”

This week, in addition to meeting with his national security team, and an “awkward” meeting with players of the Juventus soccer team, Trump presided over the installation of two 88-foot flag poles and the raising of massive American flags at the White House.

READ MORE: ‘Make Asbestos Great Again?’: Trump Slammed for Move to End Ban on Russia-Tied Carcinogen

Trump’s long weekend also comes just one week after millions protested his policies across all 50 states and internationally on Saturday, while he attended a military parade celebrating his and the U.S. Army’s birthdays, and after a tragic political assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her spouse.

It also comes one week after Trump appeared to make a major about-face, saying farm, hotel, and restaurant workers are valuable and extremely difficult to replace. He suggested that ICE would pause targeting those workers, only to turn around just days later to announce “the largest mass deportation program in history.” The pause on deportations was canceled, leading one notable political commentator and legal analyst, Joyce Vance, to wonder if Trump is actually in charge.

“Who’s running the show?” she asked, suggesting someone may have “countermanded” him on the deportations. “Who’s in charge? Trump or someone else?”

READ MORE: Trump Appears to Confuse America’s Revolutionary War With the Civil War

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Actively Trying to Erase Black History’: Trump Berated for Juneteenth Remark

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President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2020 on making Juneteenth a federal holiday, used the occasion this year to criticize the number of federal holidays—a comment many viewed as a direct slight against Juneteenth, which marks the symbolic end of slavery in the United States. He did not issue a presidential proclamation recognizing the holiday.

It was President Joe Biden who signed the legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021. And while he is no longer in office, it was Biden—not Trump—who formally honored and celebrated Juneteenth.

On Thursday, President Biden “took part in the service at the Reedy Chapel AME Church,” in Galveston, “one of the locations where an order announcing the end of slavery in Texas was read on June 19, 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,” CBS News reported. Biden criticized “ongoing efforts to erase history” during the event, “and appeared to take a shot at his successor, President Trump.”

READ MORE: ‘People Will Die’: Shock Over Trump Shutting Down LGBTQ Youth Suicide Hotline Is Growing

President Biden said, “Still today, some say to me and you that this doesn’t deserve to be a federal holiday. They don’t want to remember…the moral stain of slavery.”

“Our federal holidays say … who we are as Americans,” Biden also said Thursday, as CNN reported. “What we celebrate says what we value.”

At least twice, Biden appeared to refer to Trump, although not by name.

“When speaking about attempts to erase history, he referenced ‘this guy’ before giving himself the sign of the cross — drawing laughter from the audience,” CBS noted. “At another point, Biden pointed to efforts during his administration to rename military bases named after Confederate military officers, a process mandated by Congress.”

Also on Juneteenth, President Donald Trump launched an angry missive at the number of federal holidays, although he did not mention Juneteenth specifically.

READ MORE: ‘Make Asbestos Great Again?’: Trump Slammed for Move to End Ban on Russia-Tied Carcinogen

“Too many non-working holidays in America,” Trump declared. “It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

While shuttering the federal government while paying workers does cost money, Trump offered no evidence to support his claim that workers don’t want the day off.

Critics berated President Trump.

“Saying there are ‘too many non-working holidays’ on Juneteenth is so on brand for a man who is actively trying to erase Black history,” wrote U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). “This from the same man who’s wasted over $26 million in taxpayer dollars and spent more than 30 days golfing since January 20, 2025? Please.”

“As Americans celebrate Juneteenth,” U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote, “I want to say: Trump can try to erase whatever history he doesn’t like, and he can try to brand ‘diversity’ as something bad. But he won’t succeed. We’ll remember ALL of our history and affirm that diversity is our strength here in America.”

“Not only is he trying to make you work MORE but also he’s taking an apparent dig at Juneteenth. This is coming from the same guy who golfs every weekend. Pathetic,” declared political commentator Harry Sisson.

RELATED: Hegseth Sidelines Juneteenth and Its Military History

 

Image via Reuters

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