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Rick Santorum: ‘The Highest Freedoms’ Not Necessarily ‘Right For Society’

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Rick Santorum, clearly intending to run for president again in 2016, had a few thoughts about liberals and how their ideas are wrong for America.

A poll this week from Iowa finds that the GOP is hoping to repeat 2012 all over again. Mitt Romney topped the list of politicians Iowa voters hope to elect in 2016 — despite the fact that he lost in 2012, by nearly five million votes.

The rest of the list of usual suspects garnered low numbers in this week’s Iowa poll too, including Rick Santorum, who came in with less than six percent.

But numbers and facts have never stood in Santorum’s way.

In an interview with Vocativ this week, Santorum decided to spread a few lies, and to do what he does best: attack the left and secular society.

Talking about his production company’s latest religious right Christian film, “One Generation Away,” Santorum lied, claiming that children are not allowed to pray in school, and schools are prohibited from teaching the Bible. Both those claims are false, as Right Wing Watch notes:

In reality, students have a constitutionally protected right to pray in school, as long as that prayer is not school-sponsored. In addition, schools are allowed to teach about the Bible and its impact on history.

Vocativ calls Santorum’s film “brazen,” and describes how it explores the Hobby Lobby case, and “bakers in Oregon who decline to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.”

And there are cheerleaders in Texas who defy authority and paint signs with biblical messages on them for football games. All of them are depicted as being unjustly persecuted. For example, after the bakers refuse to whip up a cake for a lesbian couple, they’re removed from referral lists and ultimately the cake shop is forced to close.

(Vocativ gets it wrong — the Oregon cake shop wasn’t “forced to close,” of course. Sweet Cakes by Melissa chose to close up shop and go online, after a judge found they had violated Oregon law and the civil rights of a same-sex couple who merely wanted a cake for their wedding. Vocativ also gets the prayer in school issue and the Bible issue wrong, by agreeing with Santourm in the interview.)

In the rest of Vocativ’s interview with Santorum, he comes out attacking liberals. “They believe their freedoms are the highest freedoms, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for society.”

In every situation, familiar conservatives like Mike Huckabee and Tony Perkins—the leader of the Family Research Council, which is considered an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center—are rolled out to indict religious discrimination. These crusaders are pitted against the usual liberal suspects: a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a couple of professors.

We spoke with Santorum about what religious freedom actually means.

Does One Generation Away advocate for a particular point of view?
No question. We come down on one side.

So why bother putting the ACLU lawyer or the liberal professor in the film at all?
It’s important for Christians—because the movie is being shown in churches—it’s important for them to see why people want to change America.

Did you find their arguments compelling?
The answer to that is no. They believe their freedoms are the highest freedoms, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for society.

So what’s the goal of One Generation Away?
To bring awareness. Religious liberty is one of the things that, if you get it wrong, it leads to all kinds of other problems down the road. And I think right now we’re getting it wrong. Look at the civil rights movement. That was brought about by the church. But now people say the church is on the wrong side, so let’s shut the church up. That’s wrong. Having a moral compass is good for America.

Here’s the trailer for Santorum’s film:

 

Image: Santorum speaking at NOM’s March For Marriage Rally, June3 19, 2014. Photo by Elvert Barnes via Flickr

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‘He Was the Only One’: Trump Mocked for Declaring Iran’s Moves ‘Shocked’ Him

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March 16, 2026

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President Donald Trump is facing criticism and mockery after admitting he was “shocked” that Iran fought back against Operation Epic Fury.

“Trump just admitted publicly that his administration underestimated the Iranian response to his attack,” The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin reported.

During a meeting of the board governing the Kennedy Center, Trump said, “look what happened. In the last two weeks, they weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Focusing on Trump’s “shocked” remark, some critics blasted the president, once again, for what many have previously said is a Commander-in-Chief who was unprepared to go to war against Iran.

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser called Trump’s comments a “Remarkable admission.”

READ MORE: ‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash declared, “We are governed by complete morons.”

Podcaster Clint Russell noted, “Just FYI, this is the EXACT reason our generals have consistently advised against a war with Iran. Even Charlie Kirk had laid this all out on his show a couple years ago. Iran was no threat to America but they were fully capable of destroying the global economy by striking oil facilities and transit throughout the region.”

Robert Manning, a Distinguished Fellow in Global Foresight at the nonpartisan Stimson Center, wrote: “If so, he was the only one surprised. Strategic planners have war games this for 40 years. Hard to believe JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] didn’t advise Trump this was likely.”

“I’m pretty confident every war plan US has ever done in last 30 years gaming out this conflict was based on expectation that Iran could in fact [and] would in fact do this,” noted The Nation’s Jeet Heer.

“Every institution built to prevent exactly this outcome existed, was bypassed, and we are now watching the president express shock at conclusions that were already written in the classified assessments he didn’t read,” observed Christine Villaverde, the chairwoman of Anchoring Democracy.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

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March 16, 2026

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A prominent Republican senator is denouncing his own party while lamenting the lack of an official presidential endorsement in the highly contentious Texas Republican Senate runoff election.

Agreeing that it is a mistake for President Donald Trump to withhold his endorsement of either Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or U.S. Senator John Cornyn, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned, “I think the more time we spend millions of dollars with Republican-on-Republican violence, Democrats are in the marketing department, loving the idea of a competitive runoff.”

“I get tired of Republicans being lazy and unstrategic,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju, appearing to suggest there are other ways for one of the candidates to pull ahead.

“People on my side of the aisle, and people at the far right of the political spectrum, are trying to swing for the fences, and they’re not gonna succeed,” he warned.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

A runoff election between Cornyn and Paxton will take place on May 26, and the president has yet to endorse either contender.

Reports suggest a Cornyn endorsement is more likely, although Paxton has been a reliable MAGA supporter. Trump has even suggested that whichever candidate does not get his backing should quit the race entirely, clearing the way for the presumptive nominee to battle the Democratic nominee, James Talarico.

“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, on March 4, “cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!”

He vowed to make his endorsement “soon,” but has yet to do so.

Each passing day gives Talarico more time to campaign and build his war chest as the two GOP contenders spend their time and money battling each other.

READ MORE: Gas Prices Near $4 in These Five States

 

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Gas Prices Near $4 in These Five States

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18 hours ago

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March 16, 2026

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Gas prices are continuing to substantially increase, with five states now hovering near $4 a gallon and several others seeing sharp increases as President Donald Trump’s war in Iran enters its 17th day.

“Big gas price hikes just now starting to happen in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri today, which will likely push the national average to $3.75-$3.80 by mid-week,” reports Patrick De Haan, the head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy.

But, he also notes that Michigan and the Chicago area are already seeing $3.99 per gallon as of Monday. Indiana drivers are seeing $3.89, and Ohio and Kentucky are seeing $3.79 per gallon.

De Haan directly attributes the increases to the summer gasoline changeover and the ongoing Iran situation.

“The national average is up 80.0 cents from a month ago and is 66.1 cents per gallon higher than a year ago,” WANE reports, citing GasBuddy’s data.

Drivers should not expect to see prices come down significantly anytime soon.

“Until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist,” De Haan said. “At the same time, seasonal forces are beginning to intensify as several regions complete the transition to summer gasoline, creating a double headwind that could continue driving pump prices higher in the weeks ahead.”

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

 

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