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Tammy Baldwin And Tommy Thompson Debate Same-Sex Marriage (Exclusive Video)

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U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin debated former Republican Governor Tommy Thompson last night in their race for the U.S. Senate seat from Wisconsin that was vacated by retiring Senator Herb Kohl. Baldwin, 50, supports marriage equality, and says that she “recognize[s] what the voters of Wisconsin decided back in 2006,” but she also knows “that every year people are thinking about this issue and changing their minds,” and mentioned President Obama’s “journey to support marriage equality” as an example.

“I believe the principles of equality and I certainly support marriage equality,” Baldwin said, respectfully. “I recognize what the voters of Wisconsin decided back in 2006. We know that every year people are thinking about this issue and changing their minds. I was very moved when I saw the President’s interview in which he had talked about his journey to support marriage equality. He talked about the parents of his daughters’ friends and he talked about meeting soldiers serving our country. He talked about all of the conversations along the way that got him to change his mind. I think that’s what’s happening across America.”

Tommy Thompson, 70, was unable to express any thoughts on the issue whatsoever, merely stating he supports the “71 out of 72 counties [that] voted for a constitutional amendment” banning same-sex marriage, and adding, after an uncomfortable pause, “same-sex marriage is not legal in the state of Wisconsin.”

Thompson, for those unfamiliar, has come under fire for benefiting financially from Medicare changes he promoted while serving under President George W. Bush as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and “was cited by the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists as part of a report detailing their allegations of politicization of science.”

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mA3yCcmXjAI%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Tammy Baldwin, if elected, would become the first open-gay member of the U.S. Senate. She is on Facebook, Twitter, and you can visit her campaign site too.

Please share this — we need Tammy in the Senate!

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‘We Won’t Stand for It’: Dems Rip Trump Official Considering Raising Social Security Age

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The Trump Social Security Administration Commissioner says raising the retirement eligibility age for Social Security recipients is being considered by the administration. Democratic lawmakers responded defiantly.

“I think everything’s being considered, will be, will be considered,” Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Fox Business on Friday when asked.

Bisignano insisted that the White House “is completely committed to protect and preserve” Social Security, but that “the generations that are coming in will probably have a difference set of rules than we had.”

Frank Bisignano is a former CEO of a U.S. multinational financial technology company, and appeared on a list of the highest-paid CEOs in the country, according to the AFL-CIO.

READ MORE: Grocery Price Surges Are Relative Says New Trump Fed Official

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed, “I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare and I will not raise the retirement age by one day. Not for one day.”

Critics blasted the development.

“Republicans gave away trillions In tax cuts for the wealthy. Now they are asking Americans to work longer. We won’t stand for it,” wrote U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“Trump’s cronies let the cat out of the bag. They’re ready to raise the retirement age. NOT ON MY WATCH! They want to cut your benefits and hand them over to Wall Street. We’re in a fight to save Social Security, and I’m not backing down. That’s a promise,” declared U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT).

Warren Gunnels, Minority Staff Director for the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), wrote: “If Bernie’s Social Security bill was signed into law, Social Security would be solvent for the next 75 years, benefits would go up by $2,400 & the bottom 91% of Americans would not pay a penny more in taxes. Instead, Republicans want you to work until you drop dead.”

READ MORE: White House Links Kimmel’s Comments to ‘Dangerous Rhetoric’ It Says ‘Drove’ Kirk’s Killer

Former Secretary of Labor, Professor Robert Reich, added: “A worker making $50,000 a year contributes to Social Security on 100% of their income. A CEO making $20 million a year contributes to Social Security on less than 1% of their income. Instead of raising the retirement age, we should scrap the Social Security tax cap.”

The Social Security tax cap, the amount that is subject to the Social Security tax, is $176,100.

According to Data for Progress, a progressive policy and polling organization, more Americans support lowering the Social Security retirement age than raising it or keeping it the same.

READ MORE: ‘Massive Shift’: FCC Chair Says Local TV Will ‘Decide What the American People Think’

 

 

 

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Grocery Price Surges Are Relative Says New Trump Fed Official

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President Donald Trump’s new addition to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, Stephen Miran, appeared to try to downplay the significant price increases Americans are seeing at grocery store checkout lines.

“Last month saw the biggest jump in grocery prices in almost three years,” NPR reported on Friday. “A survey this summer by The Associated Press and NORC found the cost of groceries has become a major source of stress for just over half of all Americans — outpacing rent, health care and student debt.”

Last week, Axios reported that grocery inflation is at the highest point “since 2022 as Trump tariffs pile up.”

“Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago, some substantially so,” the news outlet reported. “Coffee is up 20.9% year-over-year, with a 3.1% monthly increase, per CPI. Uncooked beef steaks are up 16.6% year-over-year with a 3.3% monthly bump. While fruits and vegetable overall were up 2.3% year over year, apples rose 9.6% and bananas, 6.6%.”

READ MORE: White House Links Kimmel’s Comments to ‘Dangerous Rhetoric’ It Says ‘Drove’ Kirk’s Killer

NPR also noted that despite “Trump’s promise to lower prices, the overall cost of groceries is higher now than when he was sworn in. The president’s crackdown on illegal immigration — including targeting people who pick and process our food — could add to upward pressure on prices. Trump’s tariffs are also contributing to higher prices for imported staples like bananas and coffee.”

Miran was asked about the price of bananas and coffee, specifically, on Friday during an interview with CNBC.

“But we are seeing prices move up for things like food at the grocery,” the host stated. “I mean, you can’t deny that the rising price of tomatoes or coffee or bananas, the things that we don’t grow here, are going up for consumers.”

Miran’s response: “Oh, there will always be relative price changes.”

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“Relative price changes” is an economic term having to do with supply and demand and other factors.

“There will always be relative price changes, but whether or not it’s inflation that’s macroeconomically significant of the type that monetary policy should respond to is a different question,” Miran concluded.

CNBC reported that Miran told the network “that he doesn’t anticipate President Donald Trump’s tariffs will cause inflation,” and that he “also said he believes Trump’s border policies will give rise to disinflation.”

READ MORE: ‘Massive Shift’: FCC Chair Says Local TV Will ‘Decide What the American People Think’

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White House Links Kimmel’s Comments to ‘Dangerous Rhetoric’ It Says ‘Drove’ Kirk’s Killer

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The White House is now linking comments made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to what it claims is “dangerous” rhetoric that motivated the shooter who killed conservative commentator and activist Charlie Kirk, despite there being no definitive proof yet of the gunman’s motivations.

According to the Associated Press, the remarks that got Kimmel suspended, amid pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, included:

“The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

The AP also reported that “Kimmel said that Trump’s response ‘is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?'”

READ MORE: ‘Insanely Broad’: Bill Would Authorize an ‘Open-Ended’ Trump Narco-Terror War

On Friday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Newsmax, “I think you’re seeing just a general public response to people like Jimmy Kimmel, who tragically is spewing this dangerous rhetoric, all people who spew this dangerous rhetoric, who ultimately drove this deranged killer to take Charlie’s life.”

“I think it’s a reflection of where the public is right now, having this revival of standing for your belief, standing for our First Amendment rights and and the importance of civil dialogue and the right to speak your mind in this country.”

Kelly also said: “Charlie’s tragic death, also ignited, I think, a spark for young people, for all people in this country who are passionate about free speech, who are passionate about civil dialogue, and also faith. Charlie, of course, was a very outspoken proponent of standing in your faith.”

“It’s no question that the person who, the coward that shot and killed Charlie Kirk, was evil, was tragically driven by a lot of this violent, hateful rhetoric coming from the left,” she added.

READ MORE: ‘Massive Shift’: FCC Chair Says Local TV Will ‘Decide What the American People Think’

Critics blasted Kelly’s remarks.

“The Deputy Press Secretary’s remarks are dripping with hypocrisy,” wrote The Steady State, a group of more than 300 former national security officials. “On one hand, she invokes the First Amendment and the importance of civil dialogue. On the other, she scapegoats Jimmy Kimmel’s comedy as ‘dangerous rhetoric’ that somehow caused a murder? This is the antithesis of free speech.”

“The First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect speech the government likes — it exists precisely to protect speech that offends, critiques, or challenges those in power,” the group added. “By blaming a critic’s words for violence, while celebrating an ally’s words as virtuous, the administration is not defending free speech at all. It’s weaponizing it.”

READ MORE: Trump Labels Flag Burning, Organized Protests ‘Incitement to Riot’

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