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Jeb Bush Fear-Mongers Off Scalia’s False Claim Pastors Will Have To Officiate Same-Sex Weddings

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Jeb Bush, pointing to the Supreme Court oral arguments on same-sex marriage this week, repeated the false claim by Justice Scalia that if marriage equality becomes the law of the land, pastors will be forced to marry same-sex couples. He also made clear he supports discrimination against LGBT people by people of faith.

On Tuesday at the Supreme Court, despite all evidence to the contrary – including the First Amendment – Justice Antonin Scalia insisted that if the court finds a right for same-sex couples to marry, pastor, priests, ministers, and other clergy will be forced under law to marry same-sex couples.

The idea is preposterous on its face, as attorney for the same-sex couples, Mary Bonauto elegantly noted. 

“Your Honor, of course the Constitution will continue to apply, and right to this day, no clergy is forced to marry any couple that they don’t want to marry,” reminded the 79-year old jurist. “We have those protections.”

On Thursday at a forum hosted by the National Review, likely 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush fear-mongered off Scalia’s false claim, responding to a question on religious freedom. 

LOOK: Jeb Bush Announces He’s A Fan Of White Nationalist Author’s Books

National Review editor Rich Lowry brought up the battle and firestorm created by Indiana Republican governor Mike Pence, when he signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law last month. 

Bush had actually been among the first to defend Pence’s signing of the discriminatory law – saying Americans just didn’t know “the facts” about the bill – and was embarrassingly forced to flip-flop when Pence, under fire, called for a bill stating the RFRA could not be used as a tool to discriminate.

“You seemed to suggest,” Lowry said, that the Indiana law “needed to be fixed. What was wrong with it?,” he asked.

Bush denied the suggestion.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Bush insisted, although he essentially did. “I supported Pence. I think he needed to create clarity the law was not an attempt to discriminate against people, it was an effort to provide some space for people to act on their religious conscience.”

Bush then brought up Scalia’s remarks at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

“I read some of the transcript, and the solicitor general in defense of the government’s position, when, I guess it was Scalia or someone asked about this question of ‘Well, does that mean that the church or other religious institutions are discriminating if they don’t want to participate?'” Bush offered. “And he said, ‘That’s not what’s in front of you today.’ Now maybe I’m misinterpreting that remark, but my interpretation of that was, ‘Well, that might be in front of you tomorrow.’ And that’s where I think we need to focus.”

As Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade notes, “Bush’s account of the exchange is faulty. Scalia indeed expressed concerns during oral arguments that ministers may be forced to conduct same-sex weddings, but the attorney before the bench at the time was Mary Bonauto, civil rights director for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who gave assurance no clergy would be forced to participate in a same-sex wedding.”

Bush then said, “we need to get to a place where government’s not going to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, and at the same time, make sure there is ample space for people not just to have a religious view, or just to be religious, but to actually act on their religious view.”

In other words, Bush is saying he does not support discrimination against LGBT people by the government, but totally supports discrimination against LGBT people by people of faith.

At that same forum Thursday, Bush announced he’s a fan of books authored by a social scientist the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a “white nationalist,” and whose most famous book has been denounced as “racial pornography.” 

Here’s Bush talking about Scalia and ministers being forced to perform same-sex marriages:

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Washington Blade

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Five of the Wildest Things Trump Said at His Black History Month Celebration

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February 18, 2026

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A jovial President Donald Trump hosted a Black History Month celebration on Wednesday, ad-libbing many remarks that drew online criticism.

‘He’s Not a Racist. He’s My Friend’

“Talk about a piece of work, but he could fight, couldn’t he, huh?” Trump said. “Mike Tyson, boy, I tell you, Mike has been loyal to me. Whenever they come out, they say, ‘Trump’s a racist.’ You know, it’s like a saber. ‘Trump’s a racist.’ Mike Tyson goes, ‘He’s not a racist. He’s my friend.’ He’s been there from the beginning. Good times and bad. But Mike Tyson’s a great guy, and he was so loyal, always been loyal.”

Trump went on to mention his “great friend,” former NFL player Lawrence Taylor, “the greatest defensive player, probably, in the history of football, he’s a great friend of mine.”

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Trump called Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon “Harmeet Diller,” then asked her about suing “extremely discriminatory” Harvard University. “You keep suing them, the h — — with them,” he said, to laughter.

“I like the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which I saved,” he claimed — crediting himself for signing bipartisan legislation that secured funding for them in 2019. “They had no funding,” he said.

“We took care of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and it was a great thing to do,” he added.

‘Sometimes, We Have to Force Ourselves Upon Them’

Apparently referring to deploying federal forces into U.S. cities, Trump told the audience, “We’re doing it, in a lot of cities. Sometimes we have to force ourselves upon them because they’re so bad. And I don’t even think they know what’s happening to their cities and their towns.”

Confusion between The Bahamas and Bermuda

Speaking of former football great and failed Republican senatorial candidate Herschel Walker, whom Trump endorsed, the president said, “Herschel Walker — speaking about loyal — how good a football player was Herschel? Herschel Walker, now he’s Ambassador to The Bahamas — I don’t know, Bahamas, Bermuda, is he Bahamas? Whatever. It’s a nice place.”

Nicki Minaj

“Jazz, the blues, from rock and roll to rap, Black artists like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters — How about Nicki Minaj? Do we love Nicki Minaj? Right? I love Nicki Minaj,” Trump said.

“She was here a couple of weeks ago. So beautiful. Her skin’s so beautiful. I said, ‘Nikki, you’re so pure.’ Her nails, her nails, they’re, like, that long.”

“I said, I said, ‘Nicki, are they real?’ And she said — she didn’t want to get into that.”

“But she was so beautiful and so great, and she. And she gets it, you know, more importantly, frankly, she gets it.”

 

Image via Reuters

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‘You’re Kidding Right?’: WH Press Secretary Stunned Over ‘Falsely Called Racist’ Question

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February 18, 2026

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared stunned when a reporter asked her for examples of President Donald Trump falsely being called a racist.

The president this week used his statement on the death of Reverend Jesse Jackson to argue that he is not a racist.

“Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way,” he wrote.

On Wednesday, a reporter asked, “Where or when does the president believe he’s been falsely called racist?”

Leavitt replied, “You’re kidding, right?”

READ MORE: Trump’s Wild 24 Hour Truth Social Frenzy

“I will pull you plethora of examples,” she said, vowing to get her team “going through the internet of radical Democrats throughout the years … who have accused this president falsely of being a racist, and I’m sure there’s many people in this room and on network television, across the country, who have accused him of the same.”

“In fact, I know that because I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” she said, before noting that Trump is hosting a Black History Month celebration later on Wednesday.

Trump, she said, will “talk about how his policies are advancing opportunity and prosperity for all Americans through record tax cuts, through the Trump accounts that all Americans can access regardless of race.”

“These are a great thing,” she continued, before noting that the president “has also awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to strengthen educational outcomes at historically Black colleges and universities, across the country.”

READ MORE: ‘Gaslight America’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasts Trump Ahead of His Trip to Georgia

She also said that Trump is “protecting the hard-earned benefits of the 2.4 million Black veterans who honorably served in our nation’s armed forces by reducing the Black backlog of veterans waiting for their VA benefits, and for their home loans through the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

“So, there is a lot this president has done for all Americans, regardless of race, and he has, absolutely, been falsely called and smeared as a racist, and I’m happy to provide you those receipts,” she added.

READ MORE: ‘Republicans Have to Lose’: Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘Gaslight America’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasts Trump Ahead of His Trip to Georgia

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February 18, 2026

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Former Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is sharply criticizing President Donald Trump ahead of his Thursday trip to her former district, where he made — and then apparently forgot — an endorsement in the race to fill her old House seat.

“Well, we have a lot of people that want to take Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene’s place,” Trump said on Monday, as The Daily Beast reported. “Many, many candidates, and I have to choose one.”

Greene ignored Trump’s gaffe, but hit him, his administration, and her former Republican colleagues head-on in a post on X where she accused them all of trying to gaslight the American people.

“If you had put America FIRST from the start, instead of your rich donor class and foreign policy, you wouldn’t have to strategize on how to gaslight Americans,” wrote Greene, a former top Trump ally.

READ MORE: Trump’s Wild 24 Hour Truth Social Frenzy

“If you had not called the Epstein files a hoax and treated the Epstein survivors (rape and trafficking victims) like they didn’t exist and if you would release all the files and put your rich powerful friends in prison then Americans might actually listen to your ‘messaging,'” she charged.

Mocking them all as on the “struggle bus,” Greene explained the situation her former constituents now face.

“Approximately 75,000 households in my former district had their health insurance double or more on January 1st of this year because the ACA tax credits expired and Republicans have absolutely failed to fix our health insurance system that was destroyed by Obamacare,” she said.

Republicans have blocked Democrats’ efforts — including a federal government shutdown over the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies — to prevent the health care premiums crisis.

Greene said that hundreds of thousands of people in her former district saw their health insurance premiums double last month.

“Many dropped their policies and no longer have health insurance,” she wrote. “And that’s on top of EVERYONE ELSE who complains DAILY about the absurdly high cost of health insurance!!!”

She said the billionaires running the White House, the Trump administration, and Congress aren’t affected by the high health insurance premiums, noting that all of them have “very nice affordable government health insurance plans.”

READ MORE: ‘Republicans Have to Lose’: Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice

“I’m talking about younger healthier people and families not on meds who can’t afford to pay $1500 to more than $2000 per month just for their monthly health insurance premiums,” she wrote, “not including $7-10,000 for a deductible before their ridiculously expensive health insurance policy kicks in.”

Greene also took a shot at House Speaker Mike Johnson, who, she said, “claimed he had the Republican plan during the 8 week shutdown in the fall, then carried on and has done nothing proving he lied once again.”

She also blasted Trump’s “messaging” efforts.

“Trump RX doesn’t fix this so that’s not your messaging answer,” she wrote. “A Truth Social Post or Trump video isn’t fixing this either.”

“Messaging won’t fix this,” she added.

Greene then moved on to foreign policy, warning Trump not to go to war with Iran. She also urged him to release the Epstein files, and told him to “stop the bullying, harassment, and name calling.”

“It’s immature, childish, and turning so many people away. Real leaders don’t act this way and it’s a horrible example set on the world’s stage. This isn’t the behavior we want to teach our children.”

“Deliver real results for the regular American people because respect is earned not given,” she said.

READ MORE: ‘Insulting’: Fox News Panel Implodes as Host Clashes With Liberal Guest Over Voter ID

 

Image via Shutterstock

 

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