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The Violent Response of Governor Rick Perry’s The Response

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Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry on August 6 co-hosted the oxymoronic “non-denominational, apolitical Christian prayer meeting,” known as “The Response,” with his million-dollar financial supporter, the American Family Association. While only 30,000 attended, the violent results of their evangelical experience were felt by some, immediately. Jay Morris explains, in this first-hand account.

 

On Friday, August 5th, I left the office, rushed to pick up fellow activists, headed to our designated meet-up spot in San Antonio and loaded up the pick-up truck to head to Houston, Texas. We had been planning this trip for some months knowing that we could not let Governor Rick Perry’s alliance with a hate group go unchecked. Activists from all over Texas were converging on Reliant Stadium to respond to The Response.

READ: Texas Governor Rick Perry And The Hate Group

There was a lot of excitement on the road to Houston, and I’ll admit there was a lot of nervousness as well. Most of us in the Texas-sized pick-up truck had stood in the middle of crowds of evangelicals before. Instead of experience calming us, it perhaps made us even more nervous as we had seen mob mentality escalate into fits before.

On Saturday morning, we met up with other GetEQUAL TX organizers near Reliant Stadium. Few of us had slept more than three hours the night before, and several had not slept at all. We covered ourselves in sunscreen, discussed our positioning and marched toward the west entrance of Reliant Stadium where we would set up shop for the day. Few, except for the Houston Police Department, paid much attention to the crowd of people carrying rainbow flags and a coffin as they pulled into the stadium parking lot to join the Texas Governor and the hate group, The American Family Association.

By 9:00 a.m. we were already experiencing the discomfort of the heat. Our spot on the West side of the stadium provided us some shelter from the scorching sun, but sweat still beaded up on our faces and soaked our clothing. It was around this time we held the first of our three funeral processions of the day, honoring the lives of those LGBTQ people who had been murdered or taken their own lives as a result of the hate spewed by organizations like the American Family Association.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8fp5CXPL5iM%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Shortly thereafter, we encountered the very hate we were there to protest against, a man in a different Texas-sized pick-up truck who continued to circle the stadium, passing us, squealing his tires and revving his engine, causing black exhaust clouds to plum around us. After a few times of this, he took it a step further, jumping the curb and pushing several of us back away from the street with his vehicle. In spite of the large police presence, this assault went unnoticed by the authorities (or perhaps it was simply disregarded.)

As you’ll note by the above video, our first procession was led by a band, which just happened to appear at the event and agreed to lead the procession. By the second procession around 10:00 a.m., we were band-less, but our voices would not be silenced. We rounded up our group and some others who were standing by, locating a lone drummer, and prepared them all to sing “We Shall Overcome” as we marched down Kirby Avenue honoring and remembering our fallen brothers and sisters.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=2JRnlzewRis%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Near noon, we held our third and final procession of the day, and as we strolled down Kirby Avenue, many others joined behind:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pgfCthjznQ8%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Immediately after this procession, we entered the cross-walk and headed to pack up the coffin, signs, rainbow flags and other items. Several participants of The Response were leaving for lunch or other affairs. As if to prove our point that their rhetoric leads to violence, a man in yet another Texas-sized pick-up truck turned out of the parking lot, punched the gas and came barreling at us, missing us by only a foot or two. The miss was likely intentional as we were sitting ducks in the cross-walk had he wished to actually harm us, but his message was clear – he will protect his heterosexual privilege at all cost, even violence.

WATCH: Rick Perry’s Love Of Hate Group Examined By Lawrence O’Donnell

After lunch, several of our organizers headed back to the stadium for the close of the event. One of them, John Dean Domingue, was met by a Response attendee who, in her zeal to save his soul, thought it acceptable to begin pushing him toward the stadium saying, “Have you been inside? You need to come inside.” John Dean later noted that before the event, those arriving weren’t very hostile at all, but upon leaving they were much more apt to push their views on the protesters by shooting the finger, shouting and otherwise shoving protesters.

This was The Response generated by the supposed prayer event. Perhaps fear, violence and intimidation are exactly how the American Family Association, presidential want-to-be Rick Perry and the evangelical hate machine will confront the crisis faced by America. If so, we can expect more crises and more murdered lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people should Perry and his evangelical lot get their prayer of a presidency answered.

 

Jay Morris is a State Lead for GetEQUAL​.org, a founding member of the Direct Action Network San Antonio, a writer for Ignite San Antonio Magazine, and blogger at jaysays​.com. You can find him posting randomness on Twitter or engage him in conversation on Facebook.

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Rollins Slams Medicaid, Touts Healthy Food to Cut Health Care Costs—GOP Cut Both Programs

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July 14, 2025

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins claimed Medicaid is “bankrupting” the states, while suggesting that “healthy” foods could serve to help reduce health care costs. Yet both Medicaid and nutrition programs like SNAP were slashed under President Donald Trump and Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law just ten days ago.

“Medicaid is bankrupting almost every state,” Secretary Rollins claimed in remarks on Monday (video below).

With the Republicans gutting over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid funds, and approximately $200 billion in SNAP funds, states face either picking up that massive shortfall or cutting some programs, benefits, or users.

Medicaid is “taking between 30, 40, 45, 50 percent of the state budgets, and has for a really long time, for those of us who come from state policy, we know this very, very well,” Rollins continued. State funds for Medicaid (not including federal matching funds) account for less than 20 percent of state budgets, overall, according to the Pew Research Center.

READ MORE: At Faith-Based Event Trump Courts Religious CEOs, Uses Expletive, Calls Dems ‘Evil’

Secretary Rollins previously served as a policy director for Texas Governor Rick Perry and led the right-wing Texas Public Policy Foundation. More recently, she headed the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank dedicated to advancing President Trump’s first post-presidency agenda.

Rollins decried what she says is the number one purchase using SNAP funds: “sugary drinks and junk food.”

“Frankly, we have to make a change,” she insisted.

“So there is a lot of wholesale across the government that we can do, but there’s also a recognition that a lot of these communities that are part of the Medicaid program, they don’t always have access to healthy food,” Rollins continued, not mentioning the billions the BBB Act gutted from both.

Rollins insisted the federal government has to do “a better job through our nutrition programs, through our partnerships, et cetera, of ensuring that those communities have access to healthy foods.”

“So on the back end, we have programs that are not bankrupting our government.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Dumb-Dumb’: Fox News Host Declares Rising Democrat a ‘Mental Deficient’ Amid Senate Buzz

Image via Reuters

 

 

 

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At Faith-Based Event Trump Courts Religious CEOs, Uses Expletive, Calls Dems ‘Evil’

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July 14, 2025

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During a White House Faith Office event focused on renewing America “spiritually and financially,” President Donald Trump lashed out at “evil” Democrats and used an expletive while venting about his indictments and impeachments.

The meeting was attended by about 60 CEOs and business leaders who have donated to faith-based causes, in an attempt to persuade them to invest in the White House Faith Office, according to Fox News.

“White House Faith Office senior advisor Pastor Paula White, Faith Director Jenny Korn, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler will attend the event and also deliver remarks,” Fox News also reported.

READ MORE: ‘Dumb-Dumb’: Fox News Host Declares Rising Democrat a ‘Mental Deficient’ Amid Senate Buzz

Trump was “expected to explain why the White House Faith Office is so important to his agenda,” and “encourage business leaders to help the Trump administration, specifically on programs concerning foster care and adoption, fatherhood initiatives, poverty alleviation, substance abuse and prisoner reentry.”

But the President also explained (video below) “one thing” about Democrats: “they have bad policy, they’re evil people in many ways, but they stick together,” he claimed.

Trump warned that if Republicans don’t stand together “and make the economy strong…you’re gonna literally have perhaps a depression, where you people so rich, so beautiful, so nice to look at, will be totally busted. And let’s see how long your wife stays with you, your beautiful — she’ll stay with you for about three weeks and she’ll say, ‘Darling, I can’t take you anymore. I can’t take it anymore, darling, I’m leaving you’.”

The President also denounced his indictments and impeachments.

“Indicted five times, impeached two times, all b——-, right?” he told the group. “Oh, terrible stuff, and I got impeached for making a perfect phone call.”

READ MORE: ‘Like Taking a Knife to a Gunfight’: Trump’s Russia Tariffs of ‘About 100%’ Mocked

Trump also claimed that he is “getting rid of” the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 provision in the tax code that bans  certain non-profits, including groups like churches, from endorsing political candidates. It has never been fully enforced, and no church has ever lost its tax-exempt status solely for violations of that law.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation denounced the meeting’s agenda.

“Trump is again blurring the line between church and state,” FFRF wrote. “A president shouldn’t be rewarding CEOs for promoting religion or using public office to advance a ‘faith-centered’ agenda. Government must serve all Americans — not just the religious.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Absolute Cringe’: DHS Ridiculed After Attacking CNN Report—by Confirming It

 

 

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‘Like Taking a Knife to a Gunfight’: Trump’s Russia Tariffs of ‘About 100%’ Mocked

Published

14 hours ago

on

July 14, 2025

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For the past few days, President Donald Trump and his allies have been teasing what was billed as a major announcement about Russia. On Monday, the President issued a warning to President Vladimir Putin: sign a cease-fire agreement within 50 days with Ukraine or face tariffs of “about 100%” on Russian goods imported into the United States.

“I am very disappointed with President Putin,” Trump said on Sunday. “I thought he was somebody that meant what he said. And he’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”

“I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago,” Trump declared on Monday from the Oval Office, continuing what has been a rare distancing from the Russian dictator. But in announcing his secondary tariffs of about 100%, Trump added, “I hope we don’t have to do it.”

Trump called the tariffs “major” and “very severe,” while telling reporters that he speaks to Putin “a lot.”

READ MORE: ‘Dumb-Dumb’: Fox News Host Declares Rising Democrat a ‘Mental Deficient’ Amid Senate Buzz

He also defended giving Russia 50 days notice by saying, “I think it’s a very short period of time,” and, “I’ve just really been involved in this not very long. It wasn’t an initial focus. This is a Biden war. This is a Democrat war.”

Critics disagree.

Some observers are noting that Trump ran for re-election last year on the promise he would end Russia’s war against Ukraine in one day. Some also note that 50 days gives Putin a lot of time to inflict further damage on Ukraine, although Trump also announced he is authorizing Patriot missiles to go to Ukraine.

Technologist, historian, and researcher Dave Troy, who has written extensively on Russia, noted: “Trump’s announcement on Russia/Ukraine is not significant. 1) we’re not paying for weapons, we are selling them to NATO, 2) secondary 100% tariffs isolate the US from Russia sphere of influence, a strategic goal for Putin, 3) 50 day window provides pretext for attack escalation.”

Former Obama National Security Council official Tommy Vietor wrote: “I’m glad that Trump finally figured out that Putin is a liar who can’t be trusted & has chosen to support Ukraine, but: 1) he ran on ending this war in 24 hours and failed, 2) he said sending weapons to Ukraine would lead to World War 3, but now is doing exactly what Biden did.”

Last year, the U.S. imported only $3 billion from Russia, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

READ MORE: GOP Senator Denounces Anti-ICE Democrats as ‘Pawns’ of an ‘Anarchist Agenda’

“Congress has been waiting on Trump’s green light for a bipartisan bill that would slap 500% tariffs on any country doing business with Russia,” reported Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. Later, she added that Trump appears supportive of the legislation, although he said, “I’m not sure we need it, but it’s certainly good that they’re doing it.”

“Trump’s big reveal on Russia,” observed journalist Marcy Wheeler, “is to give Putin more time than he is giving America’s nominal allies to do what he demands, 50 days instead of 20.”

Daily Beast columnist and creator of the Russian Media Monitor, Julia Davis, wrote: “Seems like this ‘major announcement’ was teased ad nauseam solely to distract from the Epstein fallout. We already knew about selling Patriots to Europe. Trump is giving Putin 50 more days to bomb Ukrainians before he considers doing anything about it.”

Rina Shah, a Senior Fellow at the Rainey Center for Public Policy, wrote: “Threatening tariffs on Russia to try to settle its 3+ year war on Ukraine? This is like taking a knife to a gunfight.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Absolute Cringe’: DHS Ridiculed After Attacking CNN Report—by Confirming It

 

This article was updated to include the quote from Julia Davis

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