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Keith Ablow Demands You Declare War On Benetton For Its UnHate Campaign

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Doctor Keith Ablow has declared war on the international, Italy-based clothier Benetton, and demands you do so too. The 46-year old company just unveiled its latest advertising campaign, ensconced within the brilliant UnHate Foundation, and offered to the world six images of world leaders kissing. Photoshopped, of course. But Ablow, who has railed against other clothing companies, like J. Crew, before, does not see a message of love, peace, or tolerance in these beautiful and, yes, shocking images. Dr. Ablow sees an assault on Western culture and civilization itself, and actually sees not only a promotion of homosexuality, but in these images below, he sees “tongues and genitals.”

If ever there were a Rorschach test for homophobic, bigoted, small-minded psychiatrists, these Benetton ads would be published in every mental health textbook.

“The only psychological interpretation of such ads that makes sense to me as a psychiatrist is that the corporate leaders at Benetton literally believe that homosexual sex between world leaders — or at least homosexuality, as an orientation — would lead to world peace,” Dr. Ablow writes in an offensive, anti-gay, anti-intelligence opinion piece at Fox News titled, “In Benetton’s World, Gay Sex Solves Everything.”

“They have tipped their collective hands as a company and indicted marital fidelity, faith and heterosexuality, labeling them the real sources of hatred and suffering around the globe,” Ablow rails. “In the collective mind of Benetton, if religious leaders and political figures would just have sex with one another all would be well.”

One cannot help but conjure up an image of Dr. Freud in Vienna and Dr. Ablow on his couch. Pity the timing’s all wrong.

Is it possible that Dr. Ablow, 49, who has offices in New York City and Massachusetts, is a New York Times best-selling author, graduated from Brown, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins, has a world view that is so small?

Benetton has 6000 stores in 120 countries, and only 61 stores in the U.S. That’s right. One percent of their stores are in America. Does Ablow really believe Benetton, known for decades for their socially-progressive advertising, really made those ads for America?

America is one of the few countries where people actually don’t kiss when they say hello. Who hasn’t seen the photos of former president George W. Bush kissing Arab leaders? When Dr. Ablow’s employer, Fox News, published those images, did Ablow scream that a “new movement of homoerotic Utopians … are telling us, homosexual sex is what matters … and so much of it, in such unrestrained fashion as to unite men from democracies with men from dictatorships, Catholic and Muslim leaders, black men and white men”? Because that’s what he wrote about these Benetton ads.

READ: Keith Ablow Gets Slammed By Psychologist For Chaz Bono Column – Twice

Did Ablow — who has compared transgender people to heroin addicts and anorexics, who has likened pedophilia to sexual orientation — upon seeing his beloved President Bush kissing a Saudi Prince, scream, “Our connections must be made man-to-man, with our tongues and genitals. That is the only road forward”?

Seriously, look at these images — which, by the way, include Angela Merkel kissing Nicolas Sarkozy — and tell me you see genitals. Please, show me how bad my eyes are.

And isn’t it amusing that Dr. Ablow “forgot” to mention the Angela Merkel image, one of the six, in his anti-gay hate-filled screed? Given the number of female world leaders, I’d say Benetton got the ratio just about right.

What’s not right is Ablow’s thinly veiled suggestion that a homosexual political leader would be “a declaration of psychological warfare on religious tradition and cultural mores and one that elevates narcissism and sexual gratification above intelligence and leadership.”

Ablow’s religion preaches love, and demands he “turn the other cheek.”

But Ablow demands — demands! — that you see the “genitals!” Ablow demands — demands! — that you see the “wet kisses!” Ablow demands — demands! — that you see the “homosexual sex!” Ablow demands — demands! — that you see these leaders “erotically kissing!”

And Ablow demands that you see his belief – just as he demanded you see his belief that if your children saw Chaz Bono they could become transgender –that you have been attacked.

“I have been asked, why are people so outraged by these images? What is the psychological reason? The reason is simply this: Human beings still know, thank God, when they have been attacked for who they are.”

Sometimes, Dr. Ablow, just as the quote mis-attributed to Freud says, a cigar is just a cigar — and a kiss is just a kiss.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7vThuwa5RZU%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Ablow leaves his readers with this, perhaps one of the greatest pieces of evidence of malpractice — journalistic, if not medical:

“If you are heterosexual, if you are a leader who believes your position demands decorum, if you are a person of substance who believes you should be valued for your mind, not just your sexuality, if you think that countries and religion deserve respect, not ridicule, you were attacked today by Benetton. You felt it. And you shouldn’t be talked out of your outrage.”

And no doubt, Dr. Ablow is willing to not talk you out of your outrage, for several hundred of dollars an hour, in one of his beautiful Manhattan or Massachusetts offices.

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News

‘I Didn’t Say That You Said That’: Trump Backpedals as ‘Obnoxious’ Reporter Corners Him

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President Donald Trump tried to backpedal on last week’s promise to release full video of a second boat strike some are calling unlawful, when cornered by a reporter he subsequently denounced as “obnoxious” and “terrible.”

Video shows that Trump did promise to release the full video, telling reporters last Wednesday, “whatever they have, we’d certainly release.”

On Monday, ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott said to Trump, “Mr. President, you said you would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd off the coast of Venezuela.”

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“I didn’t say that,” Trump replied. “You said that, I didn’t say that.”

“This is ABC fake news,” the president added.

“You said that you would have no problem releasing the full — okay, well, Secretary Hegseth —” Scott continued.

“Whatever Hegseth wants to do is okay with me,” Trump said.

“He now says it’s under review,” she explained. “Are you ordering the secretary to release that full video?”

“Whatever he decides is okay with me,” Trump responded.

After the president claimed that every boat the U.S. military destroys saves 25,000 American lives, the reporter pressed him to confirm his position on releasing the video.

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“Didn’t I just tell you that?” he charged.

“You said that it was up to the secretary,” she responded.

“You are an obnoxious reporter in the whole place,” Trump said, attacking Scott. “Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, a terrible, actually a terrible reporter, and it’s always the same thing with you.”

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GOP Struggles to Message on Affordability as House Republicans Kill Affordability Bill

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Republicans are taking heat on two fronts as they struggle to win the affordability messaging battle while killing affordability legislation.

“Republican lawmakers, aides and strategists tell NBC News they worry that high prices and their party’s poor messaging on affordability could cost them in the midterms,” the news network reported over the weekend.

Politico reported on Monday that “Republicans are divided over how to address growing cost-of-living concerns over health care, housing, student debt and more.”

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As President Donald Trump calls affordability a “hoax” and a “con job,” recent polls show his approval rating is underwater, and some say Republicans have not made the affordability crisis a central legislative focus.

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune appeared to suggest affordability is an issue to tackle down the road.

“We haven’t probably messaged as effectively as we should,” Leader Thune said in an interview, Politico noted. “I think we’ll have lots of opportunities now that we’re getting into an election year to talk about the things we’ve done and how they are going to lead to things being more affordable for the American people, probably starting with tax relief next year.”

One of the things Senate Republicans did was join with Democrats to pass out of committee — unanimously, some Democrats noted — a bill to improve housing availability and affordability.

House Republicans killed the legislation, known as the ROAD to Housing Act.

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“Just this weekend, congressional leaders released a compromise version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act without housing legislation sought by Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), after House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and other key House Republicans objected.”

Senate Democrats expressed outrage.

“Leave it to House Republicans to fumble a comprehensive, bipartisan housing package that passed out of the Senate committee UNANIMOUSLY!” decried U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN).

“Unbelievable,” lamented U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). “House Republicans just killed our broadly bipartisan housing affordability bill, which would have been a great first step towards lowering skyrocketing rents & mortgages. Republicans are actively torpedoing progress towards lowering your rent.”

“Trump claims he wants to lower housing costs, but his allies in the House just axed a bipartisan bill that UNANIMOUSLY passed the Senate to do just that,” noted U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “If Republicans keep blocking legislation to cut housing costs, Democrats will pass it ourselves when we take back Congress.”

The communications director for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), James Singer, summed it up: “It’s not the message, it’s the policies.”

Economist and economics professor Justin Wolfers told CNN, “When we talk about affordability, so much of what’s going on with prices is in fact a direct result of public policy. We’ve seen tariffs that have raised costs. We’ve seen a big rise in deportations, which are making it difficult for farmers to bring in their crops. We’ve seen health insurance premiums rise as Congress has fiddled with Obamacare subsidies.”

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Image via Reuters

 

 

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News

‘Corrupt’: Kushner’s Role in Warner Brothers Discovery Takeover Bid Draws Fierce Blowback

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On Sunday, President Donald Trump declared that he will “be involved” in the federal government’s decision on whether to allow the streaming service Netflix to buy mass media and entertainment conglomerate Warner Brothers Discovery. On Monday, Paramount Skydance, another mass media and entertainment conglomerate, announced a hostile takeover bid for WBD — with news soon following that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm is part of the Paramount offer.

“Paramount is telling WBD shareholders that it has a smoother path to regulatory approval than does Netflix, and Kushner’s involvement only strengthens that case,” Axios reported. “Paramount is led by David Ellison, whose billionaire father Larry is a major supporter of President Trump.”

Axios added that Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, “was not mentioned in Paramount’s press release on Monday morning about its $108 billion bid, nor were participating sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.”

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Fortune reported that “Affinity and the other outside financing partners have agreed to forgo any governance rights, which Paramount said means the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would have no jurisdiction over the transaction.”

But Axios’ Sarah Fischer wrote on social media: “Ask yourself, why would anyone want to put money into an investment of this caliber and have no governance rights or board seats?”

“Essentially,” she added, “people want to have control/access/political power behind the scenes.”

“Reality is,” Fischer explained, this hostile takeover is a good explanation “of how capitalism/democracy can be exploited for political gain,” with “Paramount essentially betting our open system incentivizes shareholders to take [the] best financial deal even if it means giving soft power” to three sovereign wealth funds, the President, and his son-in-law.

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Critics are blasting Kushner’s and Trump’s involvement.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) remarked, “Donald Trump said he’ll ‘be involved in’ deciding if Netflix can buy Warner Bros. Is that an open invite for CEOs to curry favor with Trump in exchange for merger approvals? It should be an independent decision by the Department of Justice based on the law and facts.”

Award-winning journalist Sophia A. Nelson, responding to trump’s remarks, observed: “This is ridiculous. Corrupt. And NOT what a President gets involved in.”

Professor, investor, and marketing executive Adam Cochran wrote: “Trump is talking about him personally being involved in deciding the fate of the Netflix-Warner Brothers deal, and how it’s ‘bad.’ Meanwhile his son-in-law is financing the competing offer. There has truly never been a more corrupt administration in US history!”

Alexander Vindman, former Director of European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC), wrote: “F– NO to another corrupt Trump deal. Nepobaby, Jared’s, involvement would deliver CNN to MAGA.”

NewsNation’s Kurt Bardella, a communications advisor and media relations consultant, asked: “Alexa, what is a ‘conflict-of-interest’?”

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Image via Reuters 

 

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