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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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Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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April 19, 2024

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The Fox News host who targeted a juror serving on Donald Trump’s criminal New York trial is now suggesting the ex-president should violate his gag order and “force” the court to throw him in jail, by quoting the Fox News host.

Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

The judge excused her, after she said she felt she was not able to be impartial because friends and family were calling her asking if she had been chosen to serve on the Trump trial, after the media blitz.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

READ MORE: Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to not mention witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, or the family members of prosecutors and court staff, CNN has reported.

New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

RELATED: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

“I would make them put me in jail,” Watters said on Fox News. “I would have a tweet about something perhaps I said on ‘The Five’ or ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ and I would force them to throw me in jail.”

Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

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15 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

RELATED: Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

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Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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18 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

RELATED: ‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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