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Air Force Colonel Calls GOP Primary Opponent A ‘Coward’ For Anti-Gay Attack

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Opponent Points To Texas County GOP’s Platform That States ‘Homosexuality Tears At The Fabric Of Society’

A Republican congressional candidate and decorated military officer came out swinging Sunday in response to attacks over his participation in LGBT Pride runs at an Air Force base where he served as commander. 

Retired Col. Michael Bob Starr, one of eight Republicans seeking the District 19 congressional seat in West Texas, participated in LGBT Pride runs in 2014 and 2015 sponsored by the Pride Alliance at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, where Starr served as commander of the 7th Bomb wing. 

As The New Civil Rights Movement reported Sunday, fellow District 19 candidate Jason Corley raised the issue of Starr’s participation in the runs in an article published by right-wing website Breitbart Texas. Corley told Breitbart he was concerned about the military being used for “social engineering,” which he said could also include paying for gender reassignment surgery for transgender service members and allowing women in combat. 

Starr, a decorated colonel who dropped some of the first bombs on Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, accused Corley and others of “false and malicious attacks” and a “smear campaign.”

“Muslim terrorists have shot at me, and I’m used to being attacked,” Starr in a statement published by The Lubbock Avalance Journal on Monday. “But the attacks by my challengers go beyond me; they are also a direct attack on Dyess Air Force Base and the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our freedom — even the freedom of the cowards who orchestrated these attacks.” 

Starr is considered one of the favorites in the eight-person field to advance to a runoff for the Republican nomination in the race to replace outgoing GOP Rep. Randy Neugebauer. According to Lubbock radio host Glenn Robertson, Corley is in the second tier of candidates. There is no Democrat running in District 19, considered one of the most conservative in the nation. 

Starr planned press conferences in Abilene and Lubbock on Monday to address the attacks, which he says have also included fliers placed on vehicles outside campaign events. 

“I believe and strongly support traditional marriage, but as commander of Dyess Air Force Base, my job was to enforce the law and not discriminate against anyone who made different lifestyle choices than the ones that I agreed with,” Starr said in his statement. “All I had to do was make sure that homosexual airmen were not discriminated against. That’s what changed in the law in 2011, It is a group of lesbian, bisexual and homosexual airmen who are exercising their constitutional right and their freedom under the law to serve openly in the military. As leader of the base, I participated in as many events as I could to support as many airmen as I could. I created an atmosphere of acceptance. I did it regardless of the group or organization.”

Lubbock County Republican Party Chairman Carl Tepper said participation in the LGBT Pride runs could spell trouble for Starr, adding that the commander could have declined the Pride Alliance’s invitation under the First Amendment. 

Corley responded to Starr’s statement by pointing to the Lubbock Conty Republican Party platform. 

“We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases,” the platform reads. 

Corley also called for the reinstatement of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” 

“Why are we supporting one lifestyle over another?” Corley said. “When is there going to be a straight fun run?” 

 

Image via Facebook

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BREAKING NEWS

Trump’s Attorneys Just Walked Into DOJ – Special Counsel Expected to Reach Charging Decision Soon: Report

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Attorneys for Donald Trump Monday morning entered the U.S. Dept. of Justice, as expectations grow the ex-president could soon be charged in his unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return hundreds of classified and top secret documents.

CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa reports sources say Special Counsel Jack Smith its expected to reach a decision on charging Trump in the case soon.

“Trump’s lawyers just spotted by @CBSNews entering the Justice Department, per @RobLegare who is on site,” Costa tweeted at 10:09 AM ET. He says that “comes as sources tell me the special counsel is moving toward a charging decision in the classified documents case.”

Citing sources, Costa adds, “Trump’s lawyers are expected to raise concerns about how prosecutors have handled atty-client questions during the grand jury but there is no sign the special counsel is going to waver from how he and his team have handled the crime-fraud exception…”

READ MORE: Former DOJ Official Says Audio of Trump Admitting to Keeping ‘War Plans’ Makes it ‘Inconceivable’ He Will Not Be Charged

Trump’s attorneys being at DOJ is a possible sign the Special Counsel could be close to asking a grand jury to bring charges against the one-term, twice impeached ex-president who is currently facing 34 felonies in an unrelated New York case.

“Often defense attorneys are given the opportunity to ‘pitch’ the DOJ before a charging decision is made,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti notes. “Trump’s team visiting DOJ likely means that we won’t see charges in the next few days—as their pitch is considered—but could potentially see charges in the next 5 to 15 days.”

The Special Counsel’s grand jury is reportedly reconvening this week.

Legal experts and Trump watchers have been expecting the ex-president to be charged as soon as this week, after CNN reported Special Counsel Jack Smith had an audio recording of Trump admitting to holding on to a classified document, described by some as “war plans” against Iran. In that audio Trump reportedly also said he knew the document was classified, and said he wished he could share it, which destroys multiple claims he has made in his defense of retaining the documents.

That document is still missing, and the Pentagon appears greatly concerned about the document.

On Sunday night Trump lashed out at Smith, calling him, the DOJ, and the FBI all “Marxist,” and described the investigation into his possibly illegal handling of classified documents as the “boxes hoax.”

 

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. 

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News

Right-Wingers’ Latest Chick-fil-A Meltdown Proves They Have ‘Officially Jumped the Shark’: Morning Joe Panel

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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Donny Deutsch mocked conservatives for running the “woke” hysteria into the ground.

Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have screeched about the so-called “woke agenda,” which they warn will undermine American values and put children at risk from all manner of threats, but the “Morning Joe” host said most voters simply don’t care about that manufactured issue.

“Joe Biden, 350 pieces of bipartisan legislation signed, and Ron DeSantis and everybody else is talking ‘woke, woke, woke, woke, woke,'” Scarborough said. “Again, something that I said on this show and I heard a lot about from liberals, even, in 2021. You’re not hearing it, again, in part because there have been some corrections. You have the head of Berkley Law School, Yale Law School, Stanford Law School going, ‘Hold on, hold on, we’re not going to let these woke mobs get in the way of free speech.’ They’re saying it at the most elite law schools in America, so common-sense Americans are going, ‘Okay, there may still be a problem, but they’re working on it,’ and yet these Republicans are all acting like it’s 2019, 2020 and they just keep freaking out. Well, Joe Biden is talking about job training and signing bipartisan bills.”

Conservatives have turned against Chick-fil-A for hiring a vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion — which actually happened over a year ago but largely escaped notice until recently — and Deutsche said that was a nadir for “woke” hysteria.

READ MORE: ‘Cowards’: Soledad O’Brien rips former CNN colleagues for silence as Chris Licht wrecks the network

“The ‘woke’ movement officially jumped the shark,” he said. “Joe, you touched on this earlier with the Chick-fil-A move. Right-wing company, I don’t say that negatively, very family values, closed on Sundays, the head of the — [company chairman] Dan Cathy came out against same-sex marriages. They’re very conservative. Now, all of a sudden — you’re right, very conservative, obviously a great company, and they came under fire they have a DEI initiative, diversity, coming under fire from right-wing groups. That’s the official moment that ‘woke’ officially jumped the shark and put Fonzie on skis in Honolulu.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Image by Hector Alejandro via Flickr and a CC license

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Fox Host Says Democrats Don’t Believe in Heaven So They Play ‘Hard’ to ‘Perfect’ Earth

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Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy blamed the differences between Republicans and Democrats on religious beliefs about Heaven.

On Sunday’s Fox & Friends program, co-host Pete Hegseth argued religion was liberating because people could realize they aren’t perfect. A video clip of the moment was shared on social media.

“It changes the way you look even at politics,” Campos-Duffy agreed. “And sometimes, you know, we look at how hard on the left they play. They really play for keeps. They play in a way that’s very, you know, a lot of times conservatives look at it and go, why don’t we play as hard as them?”

The Fox News host said Democrats were trying to perfect the Earth because they did not believe in Heaven.

“Well, for them, where we live right now, this place, Earth is it,” she opined. “So everything’s on the line here for them. They think, as you said, they can perfect this Earth. Those of us who have faith don’t believe that. And we believe how we act here determines where we go after. And so we had to behave.”

“And so even in politics, we don’t, you know, we act within those moral limits,” Campos-Duffy insisted. “And you know, the ends justify the means is sort of the rules for radicals. That’s not how Christians act.”

Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link.

 

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