Connect with us

Watch: Obama Gets Heckled At White House LGBT Pride Event

Published

on

President Barack Obama has heckled by a transgender woman this afternoon, but quickly won support from his guests.

President Barack Obama has had more than his fair share of heckling. Usually it’s at a campaign event, but today was different.

During his annual LGBT Pride Month celebration, when the President invites leaders from the LGBT community for an afternoon of speeches and hors d’oeuvres, an undocumented transgender woman interrupted him.

“President Obama,” she repeated, “release all LGBTQ immigrants from detention and stop all deportations.”

“OK, you know what? No, no, no, no,”  Obama responded. “Hey,” he said, as Vice President Biden, apparently embarrassed, bent over. “Listen. You’re in my house,” the President scolded, to laughter from the crowd, then cheers and applause.

“It’s not respectful when you get invited to somebody,” President Obama said, trailing off. “You’re not going to get a good response from me by interrupting me like this,” a noticeably frustrated Obama continued.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Obama continued, as the Vice President put both hands over his face. “Shame on you, you shouldn’t be doing this.”

The crowd began to chant, “O-bam-a!, O-bam-a!”

The President told her she could stay if she quieted down, but apparently she refused and was then escorted out, saying, “Not one more deportation.”

Obama joked, “My attitude is, when you’re eating the hors d’oeuvres…,” to which the crowd laughed. “You know what I’m saying? And drinkin’ the booze.”

Afterwards, the President said, “Anyway, where was I?” to which a guest replied, “We love you!”

“I love you back!,” Obama responded.

The heckler was later identified as Jennicet Gutiérrez, a member of LGBT and immigration rights group GetEQUAL, and NotOneMoreDeportation, which says it is “a campaign made of individuals, organizations, artists, and allies to expose, confront, and overcome unjust immigration laws.”

Gutiérrez said she could not celebrate while some 75 transgender detainees were still being exposed to assault and abuse in ICE custody at this very moment.
“The White House gets to make the decision whether it keeps us safe,” Gutiérrez told NotOneMoreDeportation. “There is no pride in how LGBTQ and transgender immigrants are treated in this country. If the President wants to celebrate with us, he should release the LGBTQ immigrants locked up in detention centers immediately.”

Watch:

On any given day there are about 267,000 LGBT immigrants subject to deportation. For many if not most of them, deportation back to their native country can literally be a death sentence.

As it was happening, attendees and others responded via Twitter:

 

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Very Serious Violation of the Law’: Trump Says Military Looking Into Democrats’ Video

Published

on

One day after calling for six Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for “seditious behavior,” President Donald Trump is now claiming the military is looking into a video they recorded reminding members of the U.S. Armed Forces and Intelligence Community of their duty to refuse unlawful orders.

“I think it’s a very serious violation of the law,” President Trump told Fox News Radio.

“I know they’re looking into it militarily,” Trump claimed.

“I think Pete Hegseth is looking into it, too,” he said of the Secretary of Defense. “I don’t know for a fact, but I think the military is looking into it — the military courts.”

READ MORE: Trump State Department to Focus on God-Given Rights

The six lawmakers — four House Democrats and two Senate Democrats — in a recorded video said, “No one has to carry out orders that violate the law, or our Constitution.”

Trump lashed out on Thursday.

“It’s called seditious behavior at the highest level,” he charged. “Each one of these traitors to our Country should be Arrested and put on trial. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example must be set.”

“Seditious behavior, punishable by death!” he continued.

Some of the Democrats are speaking out.

READ MORE: ‘Mob Shakedown’: Trump Ukraine Peace Plan Blasted as ‘Surrender to Putin’

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), who is one of the six lawmakers, was asked if she believed illegal orders have been given.

“Well, what I will say is that over the last nine or ten months, about 600 pieces of lawsuits have been filed in response to executive orders or orders in general, that this president and this administration has made. Of those, 150 or so have been ruled as being unlawful, many of them by judges that have been appointed by President Trump.

“So, yes, you know, those kinds of things are going on,” she noted.

READ MORE: ‘Sundown’: Trump Shows ‘Shocking’ Noticeable Mental Decline Journalist Says

 

Image via Reuters

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Mob Shakedown’: Trump Ukraine Peace Plan Blasted as ‘Surrender to Putin’

Published

on

The Trump administration is now reportedly threatening Ukraine to accept its 28-point peace plan, which is being widely panned both inside the U.S. and internationally.

Axios reported that a draft of the plan, according to sources, “would force Kyiv to give up additional territory in the east, cap the size of its military, and agree it will never join NATO.”

The U.S. is pushing Ukraine to accept the deal on an “aggressive timeline,” Axios noted, while Reuters reported that “The United States has threatened to cut intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine to press it into agreeing to the framework of a U.S.-brokered peace deal.”

“The sources,” Reuters added, “speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Kyiv was under greater pressure from Washington than during any previous peace discussions, and that the U.S. wanted Ukraine to sign a framework of the deal by next Thursday.”

READ MORE: Trump State Department to Focus on God-Given Rights

Early Friday morning, Christopher Miller, The Financial Times’ chief correspondent in Kyiv, reported that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held “a call with France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and UK’s Keir Starmer, the Ukrainian president’s office tells me.”

“They are working to develop counter points to the Trump peace proposal that senior Ukrainian and European officials have described as heavily pro-Russian and filled with demands that are red lines for Kyiv and Europe.”

In a video to the Ukrainian people, President Zelenskyy said, “Now the pressure on Ukraine is one of the most difficult. Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice – either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner,” Miller reported.

Critics are blasting the proposed deal which was brokered without input from Ukraine.

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), warned: “We don’t have all the details yet, but it’s sounding more like a Russian plan for Ukraine. Negotiating without Ukraine is a lot like Munich 1938. It makes Ukraine weaker & vulnerable to future Russian attacks. It’s unacceptable & a surrender to Putin. We must have moral clarity.”

Marko Mihkelson, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Estonian Parliament, warned: “If Russia receives amnesty for all the crimes it has committed against Ukraine, then the UN might as well be disbanded. What value does the UN Charter have after the greatest act of aggression in the UN’s history is simply forgiven?”

He added, “If Ukraine accepts this, there will be no Ukraine anymore. If Europe accepts this, we must prepare for a direct war with Russia.”

READ MORE: ‘Sundown’: Trump Shows ‘Shocking’ Noticeable Mental Decline Journalist Says

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned, “All the decisions concerning Poland will be taken by Poles. Nothing about us without us. When it comes to peace, all the negotiations should include Ukraine. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

Responding to Tusk’s remark, CNN’s Jim Sciutto observed, “We’re seeing an immediate and very public rejection of the US Ukraine peace proposal by Ukraine and Europe.”

Professor of Political Science Michael McFaul, the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia declared, “This represents capitulation for Ukraine. Trump is not mediating an end to this horrific invasion. He is acting on behalf of the imperialist invaders. Shameful reversal.”

Jessica Riedl of the Manhattan Institute wrote: “So the U.S. proposes that Ukraine surrender to Russia. Why else to limit Ukraine‘s military (and ban NATO troops) than to leave it totally vulnerable to another Russian invasion? What, a cowardly, Neville Chamberlain embarrasment from the Trump admin.”

Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, and an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, blasted the proposed peace plan:

“This isn’t a ‘peace agreement’ it’s a mob shakedown.”

READ MORE: White House Spins Trump’s Arrest Demand as Simply Holding Dems ‘Accountable’

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

Trump State Department to Focus on God-Given Rights

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s State Department is revising its country-by-country human rights reports to emphasize rights “given to us by God, our creator” and “moral law,” while shifting away from the traditional focus on discrimination and persecution against groups and minorities.

The Washington Post describes it as “radically” altering the reports, and as an “unapologetically U.S.-centric and religiously tinged view of human rights around the world.”

The State Department has directed all U.S. embassies and consulates to use the new guidelines, which include a focus on individual liberties.

“The State Department’s emphasis on so-called natural rights and de-emphasis on rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and other legally binding instruments suggest an intentional effort to limit rights,” Uzra Zeya, a top official for human rights at the State Department during the Biden administration, told the Post.

READ MORE: ‘Sundown’: Trump Shows ‘Shocking’ Noticeable Mental Decline Journalist Says

The new focus appears to echo an attempt by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the first Trump administration to focus on “unalienable rights,” along with property rights and religious rights while “downplaying the rights of women and gay people,” the Post noted.

The most recent reports, issued in August under Secretary Marco Rubio, had “significant details cut, particularly in regards to gender-based violence and the persecution of LGBTQ+ people.”

Human rights activists said those reports “had been edited to limit the criticism placed on key foreign policy allies with poor human rights records.” President Trump has defended nations and leaders with poor human rights records, most recently declaring Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had an excellent record on human rights.

READ MORE: ‘Frozen’ Labor Market Begins to Crack as Jobless Rate Rises Under Trump

“I’m very proud of the job he’s done. What he’s done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else,” Trump said on Tuesday.

MBS, according to a CIA report, authorized the gruesome murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A senior State Department official told CNN that they “are moving away from group identities, group labels, and focusing on the fact that when a person is persecuted for whatever reason, that is a violation of the moral law.”

“We’re making sure that we’re promoting individual freedom not based on some group identity,” they said.

READ MORE: Economist Sounds Stagflation Alarm as Food Costs Rise Under Trump

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.