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NEWS: McCotter McQuits, Fat Vs. Gay, Dump Starbucks, Cain’s Mistress, Boehner’s Bull

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Above is “a comparison of the unemployment rates in the first 42 months of the Reagan and Obama presidencies.”

Republican U.S. Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, who ran one of the strangest campaigns for president, has just resigned from office, effective immediately. Not only did he get nowhere near to the GOP presidential nomination, he was table to get even enough signatures to run for his own Congressional seat. But his statement explaining why he is resigning will go down in history as curious as, well, Thaddeus McCotter. Michigan needs a new Congressman! But what’s especially interesting is what friend of the blog Jeremy Hooper notes: “Odd fact about Thad McCotter as he abruptly resigns: Until Mitt,he was highest all-time earner on NOM spinoff ActRight.”

“Seven months after the whole spectacle went down, Herman Cain has continued his career as a political eccentric — writing books, landing speaking engagements and hosting his own Web TV network. Meanwhile, I have been called a whore, a liar and a home wrecker. No one will employ me,”  says Ginger White, who allegedly had an extramarital affair with Herman Cain. (We’re not doubting that she did, mind you…)

“The first time I openly laughed at a transgender person I was 12 years old. It was February, but I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, so the movie theater in which I was seeing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective had the AC on. The laughter helped me shake off the chill,” writes Cord Jefferson, a senior editor at the newly-re-formed Good Magazine, in, “How I Learned to Hate Transgender People.” (Don’t worry — it ends well.)

“A U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey showed that 74 percent of small businesses contend that [Obamacare] will make job creation at their companies even more difficult,” writes Speaker of the House John Boehner, the man on any given day just two heartbeats away from the presidency or two yards away from a scotch. What Boehner forgot to mention, in this op-ed that appeared in the same conservative publication that yesterday printed Ted Nugent’s almost-treasonous suggestion that the South should have won the Civil War so we wouldn’t have Obamacare, is that those 74 percent of small businesses that contend that Obamacare will make job creation at their companies even more difficult is because he and his Republican cronies have been jamming that idea down their throats for the past three years.

GetEQUAL stands with Brad Pitt — “not with his mother’s hateful rhetoric” – and they want to place an ad in Brad Pitt’s mother’s local newspaper telling her she, well, has hateful rhetoric. Cough up a few bucks if you can.

“If you indulge your body with sex via pornography, affairs, strippers or hookers, and your secrets are exposed, you will not be preaching on Sunday. Sexual sin is not tolerated in our churches. If clergy are caught in these things, they’re disqualified,” writes Craig Gross, pastor and founder of XXXchurch.com, in a CNN op-ed, motivated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper coming out, that adds:

“What if you indulge your body with food? Well, then you can pastor some of the largest churches on the planet and have the most successful broadcasts on the religious channels and sell a lot of books.”

Pastor Gross tries to say that being fat and being gay are equally sinful, but fails, miserably, at the real issue: there’s nothing wrong — or unhealthy — with being gay.

“Anderson Cooper and Frank Ocean both made public revelations about their sexuality in the past week … but Ocean’s could become the much more significant announcement,” writes friend of the blog Rod McCullom at Ebony. “Ocean is a rising star in hip-hop— where perceptions of Black masculinity are dominated by hyper-sexuality, thug swagger and a deep homophobia. Neither hip-hop nor R&B has ever boasted an openly gay or bisexual mainstream male star.” Go read: “GAME CHANGER: Why Frank Ocean’s Coming Out is More Significant than Anderson Cooper’s.”

“Truth Wins Out has harshly criticized a sham study on gay parents by University of Texas researcher Mark Regnerus. We also launched a petition that has gathered more than 3,600 signatures urging University of Texas to investigate Regnerus for academic fraud, since his rhetoric surrounding his study results do not match his data — and his funding came from virulently right wing sources. However, the individual really driving the campaign against this quack study is Scott Rose, who is writing for the New Civil Rights Movement,” writes (birthday boy!) Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, in a very welcome post, “Regnerus Sham Study Under Intense Scrutiny After Scott Rose and Scientists Challenge Bogus Results.” Yes, that’s our Scott Rose, the excellent New Civil Rights Movement writer who almost single-handedly has taken on and taken down any credibility anyone might have given to the flawed Regnerus “study.” We’re very, very proud of Scott. And very grateful to Besen for acknowledging his excellent work.

“Conservative commentator George Will doesn’t believe Chief Justice John Roberts will vote for gay marriage, but added that the Supreme Court would side with advocates of marriage equality,” writes Carlos Santoscoy in OnTop. And by “Conservative,” he means, really conservative.

“The owner of an Akron restaurant where President Barack Obama stopped for breakfast this morning died, apparently of a heart attack, shortly after meeting him,” a report in the Akron Beacon Journal reports:

“I’m sure this was her highlight,” said Frankie Adkins, Harris’ sister, who lives in Tulsa, Okla., and heard about her sister’s sudden death from family members. “She loved Obama.”

Zack Ford at Think Progress publishes the National Organization For Marriage‘s embarrassing signature numbers for their embarrassing Dump Starbucks campaign.

This: 50 attacks on LGBT rights.

Lastly, just because there’s really no comment we can make:
Drudge Promotes Story From Conspiracy Website Claiming Obama Plans To Murder Conservative Journalists

Image, top, courtesy of Hamilton Place Strategies

Image of Frank Ocean by Sweisscheese via Wikipedia

Image of Thaddeus McCotter at ActRight

 

 

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News

‘Crazy’: RFK Jr. Is a Top Global Public Health ‘Expert’ Claims Miller, Sparking Mockery

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August 29, 2025

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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an environmental lawyer, former leader of a children’s anti-vaccine organization, and a promoter of conspiracy theories — is being praised by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as a “foremost” global health expert and a “crown jewel” of the Trump administration.

Kennedy has no medical degree or formal training, nor does he hold any degrees in public health.

Secretary Kennedy’s challenges this week include his attempt to fire the newly confirmed Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and announcing that most Americans will not be eligible to receive COVID vaccines without a doctor’s prescription and at least one underlying health condition. (Future CDC advisory panel regulations may alter that landscape.)

Kennedy was assailed by medical experts this week when he declared that, while walking through an airport, he could see the “mitochondrial” illness and inflammation of children, which he claimed he could detect “from their faces, from their body movements and from their lack of social connection.”

READ MORE: ‘Glass Jaws’: Democrats Cast Ernst Exit as Harbinger of Weakening GOP

Miller, who also holds no medical degree, told reporters on Friday (video below) that “the CDC’s credibility was shattered during the COVID era.”

“CDC used to be, of course, seen widely around the world as a premier health agency, and much of the world discovered in the last few years, that CDC was actually staffed by a lot of very partisan, and very political bureaucrats who weren’t at all concerned about public health and weren’t actually very knowledgeable about public health,” he baselessly alleged.

“And we are working hard, and more importantly, Secretary Kennedy — one of the world’s foremost voices, advocates, and experts on public health — is working hard to restore the credibility and the integrity of CDC as a scientific organization committed to the scientific method, and getting to the root causes of the public health epidemic in this country,” Miller continued.

READ MORE: Johnson Pins Gun Violence on ‘Mental Health’ After Trump Slashes $1B in School Counseling

Asked if there are any concerns about Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, and despite the resignations this week of top CDC scientists in response to the President’s firing of the CDC Director, Miller declared, “Secretary Kennedy has been a crown jewel of this administration who’s working tirelessly to improve public health for all Americans.”

Critics blasted Miller.

“Calling RFK Jr. ‘one of the world’s foremost experts on public health’ with a straight face is crazy,” wrote The Lincoln Project.

“I’m a an MD, PhD, physician toxicologist and drug developer. This is the biggest pile of horse-s– I have seen in months of horses–,” declared Peter H Proctor MD, PhD.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Brutal’: Trump Approval Tanks as Support Plummets Across Key Issues, Poll Shows

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Glass Jaws’: Democrats Cast Ernst Exit as Harbinger of Weakening GOP

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2 days ago

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August 29, 2025

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U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), once seen as a possible Republican Secretary of Defense, or vice-presidential or presidential candidate in a more traditionally conservative environment, is expected to announce that she will not seek re-election next year. The news has sent shockwaves through the political system, with some Democrats — especially her challengers — rejoicing, and some critics and political operatives suggesting the move shows the GOP brand is weakening, especially given the number of other prominent Republicans who have already announced their retirement.

“Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has told confidantes she plans to reveal next week that she won’t seek reelection in 2026, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News,” the media outlet’s Jennifer Jacobs first reported. “Ernst’s announcement is scheduled for Thursday, the sources said. Ernst, 55, has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015.”

Some on the left already saw a weakening Republican brand, and now see Senator Ernst’s exit as further evidence of that volatility.

Ernst joins a slew of prominent Republican Senators bowing out of their re-election races, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who just won re-election in November, is mounting a run for governor.

READ MORE: Johnson Pins Gun Violence on ‘Mental Health’ After Trump Slashes $1B in School Counseling

Former Biden White House official Neera Tanden, the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, remarked, “GOP senators are cratering in their support. Glass jaws all the way down.”

Author and political commentator Sophia A. Nelson, a Republican turned independent, on Friday predicted embattled U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine will be the next to announce their retirements.

“Democrats need to get it together,” Nelson added. “They have a real shot at the US Senate and retaking it in 2026. As well as the House of Representatives.”

In a somewhat tongue-in-cheek note, podcaster Chuck Todd responded to the news, writing: “On Earth 2, where the establishment of the GOP in 2016 successfully stopped Trump’s hostile takeover of the party, Ernst is either serving as VP, on a GOP ticket in 2020 or 2024 or had run for top spot herself.”

Back in May, Ernst was highly criticized for remarks she made at a town hall, telling voters (video below) upset over President Donald Trump’s trillion-dollar gutting of Medicaid and Medicare, “Well, we are all going to die.”

Some pointed to that gaffe as the impetus for her expected retirement.

READ MORE: ‘Brutal’: Trump Approval Tanks as Support Plummets Across Key Issues, Poll Shows

Responding to the news of Ernst’s exit, journalist Aaron Rupar snarked, “You’re saying that telling your constituents they don’t need healthcare because they’re gonna die anyway isn’t winning politics?”

Iowa Democratic state Senator Zach Wahls, who is running for Ernst’s seat, responded to the news: “Joni Ernst saw the writing on the wall. Iowans are fed up with rising costs and unchecked corruption. And next year, we’re going to flip this seat.”

Newsweek on Wednesday reported that Ernst was narrowly trailing Wahls in an in internal Wahls campaign poll, and only narrowly beating other opponents.

Iowa Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek, also running for Ernst’s seat, weighed in, commenting, “Whether it’s Joni Ernst or someone else, they’ll have to answer for supporting cutting Iowans’ healthcare in favor of a tax break for billionaires. When I’m in the Senate, I’ll never forget about Iowa.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News, in its coverage of Ernst’s retirement, pointed to reasons for Democratic optimism.

“One thing the national GOP cannot afford to ignore: Recent generic congressional ballots are giving a consistent edge to Democrats. A CNBC poll showed a 5-point lead for Democrats in August that had only widened since spring, something CNN pollster Harry Enten called a ‘big uh-oh’ for Republicans. In the last three elections with a new president — 2022, 2018 and 2010 — the party out of power gained enough seats in the midterms to control the House.”

The news outlet also reported that “outside of his GOP base, Trump’s legislative agenda is proving widely unpopular on his key issues: tariffs, inflation, the economy and deportation.”

See the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Act of Revenge’: Trump Axes Kamala Harris’s Secret Service Protection

 

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Johnson Pins Gun Violence on ‘Mental Health’ After Trump Slashes $1B in School Counseling

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2 days ago

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August 29, 2025

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is criticizing prominent voices on the left who denounced Republicans for urging prayer but taking no action on gun violence in the wake of the Minneapolis Catholic school mass shooting that left two young children dead and 17 wounded.

The Louisiana lawmaker pinned the blame for gun violence on “mental health” and “the human heart,” while insisting that guns are not the problem.

The House has voted to cut mental health services, including Medicaid, which is the largest payer of behavioral health services. Additionally, President Donald Trump has slashed $1 billion in school mental health programs that Congress approved in response to the 2022 Uvalde, Texas mass school shooting.

READ MORE: ‘Act of Revenge’: Trump Axes Kamala Harris’s Secret Service Protection

“It’s incredible to me that Jen Psaki and Gavin Newsom and others would attack religion, diminish the faith of millions of Americans at a time of such great tragedy,” Speaker Johnson alleged (video below). “There are a lot of commonsense solutions, things that can be done to protect children at schools and in churches that do not involve taking away the constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens.”

Wednesday morning, Psaki, the former White House press secretary turned MSNBC anchor, lamented, “Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers [do] not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”

Speaker Johnson continued, insisting that now is not the time to “politicize these issues.”

“And at the end of the day,” he continued, “the problem is not guns, okay, Jen Psaki? The problem is the human heart. It’s mental health.”

READ MORE: ‘Brutal’: Trump Approval Tanks as Support Plummets Across Key Issues, Poll Shows

In late April, the Trump Department of Education announced that it would stop funding “roughly $1 billion in grants that were meant to boost the ranks and training of mental health professionals who work in schools, saying the grant awards made under the Biden administration now conflict with Trump administration priorities,” Education Week reported. “The funds were authorized by Congress in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which passed after 19 students and two teachers lost their lives in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

The Trump Education Department alleged the $1 billion in funds might “undermine the well-being of the students these programs are intended to help.”

Critics blasted Johnson’s remarks.

“The GOP refuses to expand Medicaid for psychiatric care, cuts funding for ‘mental health,’ LGBTQ+ hotlines, denies the value of community services, yet feigns interest in ‘underlying causes’ of gun violence,” charged award-winning TV writer and playwright Hal Corley.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Hard Questions’: VP Echoes False Claim About Antidepressants and Mass Shootings

 

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