Mike Huckabee has lashed out at President Obama for inviting LGBT activists and pro-choice campaigners to meet with Pope Francis.
The Republican presidential candidate, who seems to be competing with Ted Cruz for the conservative Christian vote, wrote an op-ed for Daily Caller in which he stated that Obama was showing “total disrespect to millions of Americans by transforming Pope Francis’ White House visit into a politicized cattle call for gay and pro-abortion activists.”
“Welcoming a pro-life, pro-marriage leader at the White House with a crowd of abortion and gay rights activists is as classy as hosting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with an open bar,” he said. “President Obama should be ashamed of himself.”
Huckabee also reiterated his claim that “this administration supports the criminalization of Christianity in America,” using the example of Kim Davis — who was jailed for failing to follow a judge’s order, not for being a Christian bigot.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Vatican has taken offense to the White House’s inclusion of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and Mateo Williamson, a former co-head of the transgender branch of Dignity USA, among others on the official invite list for the Pope’s visit. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest defended the list — and refuted claims that Obama was making a political statement — pointing out that 15,000 people had been invited to D.C. to meet Pope Francis.
“I would warn you against drawing a lot of conclusions about one or two or maybe even three people who may be on the guest list, because there will be 15,000 other people there too,” he said.
Huckabee is no stranger to opposing Obama’s actions in office, last week objecting to the President’s nomination of Eric Fanning — who is gay — to be Army Secretary. Fanning spent 25 years serving in various military-related positions, including as as Under Secretary and Acting Secretary of the Air Force, but Huckabee blasted his nomination as “pandering to liberal interest groups.”
“President Obama is more interested in appeasing America’s homosexuals than honoring America’s heroes,” he said.
A federal judge has ruled in favor of William Saki, an Ohio man who sued after the state rejected his request for a personalized license plate reading "GAY," which he sought to mark National Coming Out Day and "express a central part of his identity."
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) had rejected the plate as "Inappropriate/Invalid," according to its online registration tool.
Saki then tried to register other plates, including "QUEER" and "HOMO," but those were also rejected, according to the Ohio-based LGBTQ outlet The Buckeye Flame.
A rainbow crosswalk in Columbus, Ohio -- part of a federal road safety study -- was defaced when an unknown vandal poured a black tar-like substance across its brightly colored panels.
The incident comes as rainbow crosswalks nationwide face political pushback, with Republican leaders including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis portraying them as dangerous distractions on the road.
City officials learned of the vandalism on August 25 after a Reddit post and calls to 311 alerted them to the damage. The crosswalk, at Lane and Waldeck Avenues near Ohio State University, had each of its colored panels smeared with the black substance.
"I was really into politics at a very young age," says Tim Miller, host of The Bulwark Podcast and an MSNBC political analyst. "I can't remember what they were called, but you'd get those kid magazines about politics that would come to your school, and I remember always really being drawn to them, and reading them and wanting to know more. I always knew lots of weird facts about politics and geography as a little middle school nerd."
Raised in St. Louis until fourth grade, when his family relocated to Littleton, Colorado, Miller became enmeshed in conservative politics at a young age, taking various campaign jobs throughout his career as a former Republican strategist. He jokes that his success at handicapping political races dates back to the 1992 election, when he won a $1 wager after betting his grandmother that then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton would unseat sitting president George H.W. Bush.
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