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Trump Finally Nominates Someone to Run NASA: A Climate Change Denying Anti-Gay GOP Congressman

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NASA Is a Federal Government Agency Whose Administrator Should Be a Nonpartisan Science-Based Executive, Not a Political Extremist

President Donald Trump has taken more time to fill the hundreds of key federal government positions necessary for a fully-functioning government than any other president in modern history. To give you an idea of just how badly he is doing in this critical job responsibility, let’s look to The Washington Post, which is tracking all of Trump’s nominees for 591 key positions that require Senate confirmation. (There are actually more that require Senate confirmation, and thousands that do not, but we’ll keep our focus on the most important roles.)

As of Wednesday, for those 591 key positions, Trump has had only 117 nominees confirmed. He has formally nominated another 106, which the Senate must act on. There are 2 people he has said he was going to nominate but has yet to do so formally. And, there are 366 key positions for which he has not bothered to nominate anyone.

Again, that’s as of Wednesday, according to The Washington Post. Trump did nominate several dozen candidates late Friday to various positions, so these numbers are a bit off, but overall they give you an excellent idea of just how bad a job Trump is doing.

One of the people Trump nominated late Friday is his candidate to run NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is a federal government agency whose administrator should be a nonpartisan science-based executive. 

NASA is not just about putting people into space. It’s a vital federal government agency that is responsible for many of the modern-day technology we use in our everyday lives. NASA in 2008 produced a 215 page document detailing all of the commercial products and technologies that it has contributed to.

NASA is also a big part of America’s research into climate change, which, contrary to the Commander-in-Chief and almost every Republican in Congress, is real. The U.S. Dept. of Defense says climate change is a major threat to national security.

So naturally, President Trump has just nominated a climate change denier to run NASA.

U.S. Congressman Jim Bridenstine, Republican of Oklahoma, is 42 years old. He sits on the House Committee on Armed Services and on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. And because the Speaker of the House is also a climate change denier, Rep. Bridenstine is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Environment.

Bridenstine is also, unsurprisingly, an anti-gay extremist.

“Jim Bridenstine is a Hard-Core Conservative,” says OnTheIssues, a nonpartisan site that tracks politicians’ votes and statements.

When the Boy Scouts voted to remove its own ban on gay Scouts, Rep. Bridenstine took to the House floor to attack LGBT people.

“Some of us in America still believe in the concept of sexual morality, that sex is intended for one man and one woman within the institution of marriage,” Bridenstine said in 2013, as Towleroad reported. “Organizations that hold this philosophy and promote it among our youth should be commended, or at least you would think, tolerated. Unfortunately, the intolerant Left bullies and browbeats private organizations like the Boy Scouts into accepting their philosophy.”

Bridenstine argued that LGBT activists “didn’t start their own organization,” but rather, “went after the Boy Scouts of America.”

Remember, it was the Boy Scouts that voted to remove their ban. 

“The Left’s agenda is not about tolerance, and it’s not about diversity of thought. It’s about presenting a worldview of relativism, where there is no right and wrong. Then using the full force of the government to silence opposition and reshape organizations like the Boy Scouts into instruments for social change.”

He concluded with a reference to Jesus.

“To my friends on the Left, this is not tolerance. but here’s the good news about true tolerance. the most tolerant one of all has the ability to redeem us all.”

One year later, when a federal judge ruled Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, Bridenstine made clear his thoughts.

“Marriage is not a ‘governmental benefit.’ Marriage is the foundational institution in our culture which recognizes the very unique and complimentary contributions men and women make in the raising of children.”

And after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage, Bridenstine bristled. At a Christian anti-gay, anti-abortion rally Bridenstine told supporters, “five unelected lawyers changed the definition of marriage in this country.”

Bridenstine is everything you’d expect of a Republican Congressman from Oklahoma. He’s anti-gay, opposes same-sex marriage, opposes ObamaCare, opposes a woman’s right to choose, denies climate change is real and even opposes supporting alternative energy, he “pals around” with far right wing extremists like Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, wants fetuses to have the same civil rights as people who have been born, wants a federal law banning same-sex marriage and thinks states should have the right to ban it. Bridenstine also wants special protections for people of faith who oppose same-sex marriage, wants no federal standards for education, supports abstinence-only “education,” opposes restrictions on gun purchases, supports privatizing social security, wants to get rid of the IRS, and more.

You get the picture.

Bridenstine does not belong at the head of what is a nonpartisan vital U.S. government agency. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) agree.

Let’s hope more Senators do, and vote this abominable nomination down.

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White House Defends Trump’s Right to Share His ‘Opinions’ Iran Has US Missiles

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March 10, 2026

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended what she claimed is President Donald Trump‘s right to share his opinion that Iran has U.S. Tomahawk missiles, a major weapon currently only in the possession of the United States, Australia, and the U.K.

On Monday, President Trump said Iran had U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles when asked if the United States would accept responsibility for the killing of at least 165 people at an Iranian girls’ school.

“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic,” Trump said, Newsweek reported. He also claimed that the missile is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”

Newsweek noted that when pressed on why he appeared to be the only one making that claim, Trump said, “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

He added that he was “willing to live with” the findings of any official investigation.

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“There has never been an indication that Iran has any Tomahawks,” CNN reported, “which are made by US defense manufacturer Raytheon for the US military, subject to strict export controls and not the ‘generic’ product Trump claimed Monday.”

On Tuesday, Leavitt chastised a reporter who asked about the president’s apparently erroneous claim.

“The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public,” she said, “but he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation, and, frankly, we’re not going to be harassed by the New York Times, who’s been putting out a lot of articles on this, making claims that have just not been verified by the Department of War to quickly wrap up this investigation, because the New York Times is calling on us to do so.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor, mockingly responded, “Stop pointing out that the president has no idea what he’s talking about.”

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

 

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Democrats Warn Trump on Path to Put US Troops on the Ground

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March 10, 2026

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President Donald Trump‘s claim that his war against Iran may soon be coming to an end is being rejected by Senate Democrats, who warn that the administration may be on a path to putting boots on the ground in a “forever war.”

After attending a bipartisan briefing, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters, “I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.”

“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground, in Iran,” he said, warning about “potentially huge consequences to American lives.”

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) also expressed grave doubts.

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

“What I heard is not just concerning, it is disturbing,” said Senator Rosen, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, as CNBC reported. “I’m not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are.”

She said that if President Trump “does want to put us in a forever war — which it seems like he does — he needs to come out and let us be able to have that discussion.”

CNBC reported that the “concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump’s statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days.”

Democrats are warning that there is no end in sight, CNBC noted, and reported that the “war dragging on could also see markets whip back and oil costs continue to soar, especially as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil remains largely impassible.”

After the Senate briefing, CBS News reported that “U.S. intelligence assets have begun to see indications Iran is taking steps to deploy mines in Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

 

 

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‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

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March 10, 2026

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted the Bible — specifically the Old Testament — on Tuesday during remarks on the progress of the war against Iran, leaving some to express concerns about Christian nationalism and his potentially executing a holy or religious war.

Noting that he had just returned from Dover Air Force Base to accept the dignified transfer of another service member killed in the Iran war, Hegseth said, “I’ll close with Scripture, drawing strength from Psalm 144.”

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”

Critics slammed his introduction of the religious text.

At The New Republic, Malcolm Ferguson wrote: “The Christian nationalist undertones of this war are getting even more obvious.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“Listening to Hegseth read Psalm 144 feels like an ominous justification for further aggression rather than a comforting message,” Ferguson said.

“While it’s a lovely verse traditionally attributed to King David, it does not accurately portray the reality of the situation whatsoever,” he wrote. “The United States is the Goliath of this story, along with Israel. The countries’ joint attacks of aggression have killed over 1,200 Iranians, many of them young schoolgirls. Iranian fuel depots were hit so hard that oil rained from the sky in Tehran on Sunday. Seven American service members have died because a president who promised peace sent them to war for money and regime change, not liberation.”

Professor of public policy Josh Cowen responded to Secretary Hegseth’s reading of scripture: “He could have chosen Jesus’s words ‘Blessed are they who mourn’ or if he was really craving a psalm, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.'”

“Instead he’s sporting militant quotes not to assuage grief but to justify his actions that caused it,” Cowen said.

Dutch journalist Michael van der Galien, according to a translation on X, called it “concerning that Pete Hegseth uses a passage from the Old Testament to suggest that God would bless a specific war between America, Israel, and Iran.”

“From a Catholic perspective, war is always a tragedy and only justified under strict conditions of just war theory, such as self-defense and the protection of innocents, not as a divine mandate.”

Professor Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian, according to a translation on X, wrote of Hegseth’s Scripture quoting, “they’ll do absolutely anything to make it look like a religious war.”

READ MORE: Cracks Widen as Trump Presses GOP on Hardline Voter ID Plan

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