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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Marco Rubio Recorded an ‘Emergency Video’ After Pete Buttigieg Responded to His Anti-LGBTQ Attack. It Didn’t Go Well.

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U.S. Senator Marco Rubio was quick to strike out at Pete Buttigieg after the U.S. Secretary of Transportation was asked on Sunday to respond to the Florida Republican’s remarks calling protecting same-sex marriage under federal law a “stupid waste of time.”

Rubio’s remarks haven’t been well-received, with many pointing out the fallacies in his comments.

The far right Florida GOP Senator, running to keep his seat against a popular Democrat, U.S. Rep. Val Demmings, was one of 50 Republicans Huffpost and CNN asked if they would vote for a bill to protect existing same-sex marriages. He was the only one who leveled what could be called a nasty attack on the very institution countless LGBTQ Americans spent years fighting to enter.

READ MORE: Rubio Pushes Bill Mandating Men Pay Child Support From Moment of Conception

“Marco Rubio told me that he is a NO on House’s same-sex marriage bill, calling it a ‘stupid waste of time,'” CNN’s Manu Raju reported last Wednesday. He also noted that “when he said that, there was another senator on the elevator who heard him: Tammy Baldwin, who is gay.”

Some Republican Senators said they would vote to protect same-sex marriage, some said they didn’t think it was necessary but would vote yes if the bill came to the floor, some said no, some were noncommittal, and many didn’t bother to respond.

But Rubio was the only one to take a swing at the marriages of well over a half-million same-sex couples across America.

READ MORE: ‘Hero’ Buttigieg Heralded for Responses to Republicans’ Questions in Congressional Hearing

On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper brought up the Florida Republican’s remarks, and asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for a response.

“If he’s got time to fight against Disney,” Sec. Buttigieg said, referring to the GOP’s attack on the entertainment giant after it voiced concern about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill, “I don’t know why he wouldn’t have time to help safeguard marriages like mine. But this is really, really important to a lot of people. It’s certainly important to me.”

“Our marriage deserves to be treated equally. And I don’t know why this would be hard for a senator or a congressman,” Buttigieg noted.

READ MORE: ‘Who Would Jesus Exclude?’: Rubio Mocked for Kicking Off Pride Month With Claim About Biden’s ‘Radical’ LGBTQ Policies

“If they don’t want to spend a lot of time on this they can vote ‘yes’ and move on,” the Transportation Secretary added. “And that would be really reassuring for a lot of families around America, including mine.”

Rubio, who voted against confirming Buttigieg’s nomination, was quick to respond with a video that attacked and attempted to mock the Cabinet Secretary.

Implying that marriage is a state issue (a claim many disagree with) the Florida Senator began by denigrating Buttigieg for his Harvard education, then claiming he “never learned the difference between the state level and the federal level.”

Rubio’s remarks include anti-LGBTQ attacks and even an attack on batteries from China, while implying that protecting marriage is not a problem that matters to “real people.” And he repeated the GOP talking point, which Buttigieg in Congress just last week debunked, that all electric cars cost $65,000.

“I’m not going to focus on the agenda that dictated [sic] by a bunch of affluent, elite liberals and a bunch of Marxist misfits,” Rubio concluded, “who sadly, today control the agenda of the modern Democratic Party.”

On social media many pushed back against Rubio’s claims.

CNN’s John Harwood highlighted Rubio saying protecting marriage is a “a fake problem,” as did MSNBC columnist Michael Cohen (not the former Trump attorney) who tweeted: “Equal rights for LGBTQ Americans is a ‘fake problem.'”

“Children of working Americans deserve a federal guarantee that their parents’ marriages aren’t up for debate, tweeted Alex Johnson.

Journalist and political commentator David A. Andelman: “And this is how @marcorubio and the @GOP make sure they get not a single #LGBTQ vote in 2022 or 2024 or never?!”

Author Jeff McKown wrote: “As a working Floridian in the LGBTQ+ community, I am also struggling. I need to understand why @marcorubio recently said voting to support my right to be married is a ‘stupid waste of time.’ He knows damn well the Boggs decision puts Obergfell in jeopardy,and he doesn’t care.”

Some pointed out Rubio’s votes against Democratic legislation that would help the working Americans he claimed he wanted to help.

“Working Americans do struggle. Weird you vote to cut their healthcare, child tax credits, funding for small bizs & anything else that’d help them. Also, they can’t act like spoiled idiots w/ their $ and then put it all on the FL GOP credit card like you,” tweeted Cliff Schecter, the president of a public relations firm, and an author and syndicated columnist.

“(1) Republicans don’t have policy that would help w/ gas prices & flight cancellations: they want US to focus on them, but not so hard to realize they have no solutions (2) Republicans want US to categorize all the cruel things they do to minority populations, as ‘culture war,'” wrote economist David Rothschild as he began a series of tweets.

“You’ve done literally nothing whatsoever to combat gas prices, even going so far as to vote *against* an anti price-gouging bill,” one Twitter user noted.

Others just openly mocked Rubio, like this tweet from an account named Noble Prize in Sarcasm: “Marco got dunked on so bad by Buttigieg he had to make an emergency video.”

And this Twitter user who wrote: “Pro Tip: When whining about how you can relate to the plight of the average working American, maybe don’t do it in a crisp white polo sitting on the deck of your spacious Florida mansion surrounded by sunshine and palm trees.”

 

 

 

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Chilling’: Law Enforcement ‘Seriously’ Investigating Threats Ahead of Possible Trump Indictment Says Top WaPo Reporter

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Ahead of a possible indictment of Donald Trump, law enforcement agencies are investigating “chilling” threats, including against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to top Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonnig.

Leonnig was careful to say she is not aware of any of the threats being deemed credible, but also noted that “all sorts of law enforcement agencies” seem to be taking much more interest than some agencies did in the weeks before the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

“I have received copies and screenshots and internal documents and emails flagging concerns about specific protests, investigations into specific online threats that have been made that are not yet determined to be ‘credible and likely to occur’ but have been chilling nonetheless in terms of the threats that have been made about killing certain people,” Leonning, a Pulitzer-Prize winning author, said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” White House.”

“Claims of, you know, ‘Alvin Bragg needs to needs to die,’ and claims online that could just be, you know, bravado, but are being seriously investigated and checked into this time around, ones that were not checked into as clearly at all in the weeks before January 6, despite significant warnings to the FBI about what these threats meant.”

Mirroring Leonnig’s reporting, Rolling Stone, citing law enforcement reports, on Tuesday noted: “Violent extremists are advocating lethal attacks and proclaiming their willingness to die for the cause.”

READ MORE: ‘All-Out War’: Trump’s Attorney Tells Kimberly Guilfoyle Ex-President Will Be ‘Loud and Proud’ When Showing Up for Indictment

“U.S. Capitol Police, the D.C. Fusion Center, and the Federal Highway Administration have all circulated warnings about the uptick in online threats over the past 48 hours. The bulletins and threat assessments detail some of the online threats and discussions about the use of specific tactics and methods for carrying out attacks — including online discussions about lethal attacks if Trump is arrested.”

On Saturday in an explosive series of social media posts Donald Trump urged his supporters to “protest” and “take our nation back.”

That “announcement was met with an immediate increase in violent online rhetoric and expressed threats toward government and law enforcement targets perceived as participating in a political persecution of the former president, as well as calls for ‘Civil War’ more generally.”

The DC Fusion Center, which analyzes threats, in a report stated it “assesses that potential criminal justice actions taken toward a former US president — or actions perceived to be taken toward the former president — remain a ‘line in the sand’ for [Domestic Violent Extremist] communities and thus have the potential to manifest in violence toward government targets or political officials,” Rolling Stone added.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Powerful GOP Committee Chair Admits He Can’t Control Marjorie Taylor Greene

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Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who’s leading Republican investigations into President Joe Biden and his family, compared firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to NBA superstar Lebron James.

The Kentucky Republican chairs the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where he’s been tasked by GOP leadership and his constituents to investigate wild claims about the president, his son Hunter Biden and other Democrats, reported the New York Times.

“You know, the customer’s always right,” Comer said, referring to the conspiracy theories presented to him by constituents. “I say, ‘Let me see it,’ because I want to see where the source is. They don’t know that it’s QAnon, but it’s QAnon stuff.”

Greene, one of the Republicans who serves on his committee, has expressed support for QAnon conspiracies herself, but Comer admitted that he had little authority to rein in the influence she holds within the GOP caucus after a little more than two years in Congress.

DON’T MISS: C-SPAN caller blows off Trump’s Stormy Daniels payment: ‘He’s our salvation!’

“It’s hard for a coach to tell LeBron James what he’s doing wrong,” Comer said.

In addition to her history of spouting QAnon conspiracy theories, Greene has also questioned whether the Pentagon was really attacked during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has called multiple school shootings “false flag” operations staged by the American government, and has even suggested that the Rothschild family is funding giant space lasers that are starting forest fires in California.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Reacting to a Cult Leader’: Trump Supporters Organizing to ‘Stock Up on Weaponry’ Says GOP Adviser

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During an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show,” GOP political advisor Lucy Caldwell expressed alarm at the prospect of street protests following Donald Trump’s claim that he will be arrested on Tuesday and then pointed to reports of online chatter that hints at violence.

Speaking with host Jonathan Capehart, Caldwell was asked about the Trump Truth Social post about his imminent arrest as well as his announcement that he will be holding a rally in Waco, Texas, the site of the Branch Davidian siege in 1993.

“Am I reading too much into Donald Trump’s rally in Waco given that history?” host Capehart asked.

“I don’t think you’re reading too much into that at all,” Caldwell replied. “He knows exactly where he is going, he has savvy strategists around him, this is not coincidental .”

RELATED: Kevin McCarthy is ‘aiding and abetting’ Trump’s new threats of violence over arrest

“And I think that what was just said was right,” she continued. “He has been setting up this narrative this whole time; what he said at CPAC a couple of weeks ago, where he said ‘I’m your retribution.’ When he talks about ‘we’ he uses the first person pronouns to describe ‘we’ the collective being under attack, what ‘we’ must do what they’re doing to us.”

“He is using typical classic cult leader language to bring these people into the fold and they’re responding,” she elaborated. “In between when he announced that is that he expects to be arrested next week, and when he announced that cult rally in Waco, investigators have seen that actually his supporters did go online and start organizing to buy protective gear, to stock up on weaponry. To do all the things that people do when they’re reacting to a cult leader.”

“It’s a very grave and dangerous situation, but I think Jonathan, you are not over-reading the tea leaves at all here,” she added.

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