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Alabama GOP Leaders Must Reap What They Sow With Trump’s Downfall

By Contributor

By Everett Secor

I’m not mad at Trump.

Sure, the things he’s revealed to have said during a 2005 taping of Access Hollywood are beyond repugnant. More than the blatant objectification of women, they describe harassment and sexual assault with a sense of pride and bravado.

But it feels a little silly to feel sudden anger towards someone for once again genuinely displaying who we already knew they are.

Trump’s history of misogyny steeped in sexual objectification, body shaming, and toxic masculinity is well documented.

We have several decades of sexual harassment, vulgar language about women, incestuous remarks about his own daughter, and even rape allegations to show for it.

The recent revelation of how he described Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado as “Miss Piggy” and an “eating machine”, forcing her to embarrassingly exercise in front of a horde of news crews, resulted in his bizarre response of feigning disgust at her involvement in a non-existent sex tape to discredit her.

This comes from a man who has proudly been featured giving intros in multiple exploitive Playboy films.

We all knew who he was.

Which is why, when the recordings were released two weeks ago, my shock was not at all at their content, but at the reaction to them.

What I saw as run-of-the-mill behavior for this man was finally drawing harsh rebuke from his political supporters.

Multiple Republican politicians who have either endorsed Trump, or stated they’re voting for him, have since withdrawn their support.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan disinvited Trump from a speaking engagement in Wisconsin.

Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence said, “I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.”

None of these objections were more shocking than when they came from one of the most steadfast strongholds of republican power: Alabama.

If there’s a place that will bend before it breaks blue, it’s the land that proudly pronounces “we dare defend our rights.”

And yet, United States Representatives Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, and Bradley Byrne, R-Mobile, both made announcements denouncing Trump.

They were joined by none other than Robert Bentley, Alabama’s own sex-scandal plagued governor who was elected twice in landslide elections on sentiments of Christian family values and integrity and is now facing impeachment.

Even AL.com, Alabama’s #1 online media site and the state wide web presence of the Birmingham News offered up their endorsement to Clinton.

Alabamians are no strangers to making excuses and seeking reconciliation for impropriety, but it seemed this time, Trump’s actions were beyond absolution.

Representative Martha Roby (R-AL) did the right thing by withdrawing her support for Trump. Photo Credit: (S.K. Vemmer/Department of State)

At least for some.

Rather than rebuke Trump, unendorse him, renounce his words, denounce his behavior, or share any sentiment that women should be treated better than this, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions decided the best response to Trump’s comments that his power and influence allowed him to grope women without consequence was to say “I don’t characterize that as sexual assault.”

As one of Trump’s most vocal supporters who reportedly helped him prep for the second Presidential debate, it seems Sessions has strapped himself to the Trump Rocket and is prepared to go wherever it takes him.

But as this shock wave of disgust spreads through the rest of the GOP, the question is:

Why now?

Why, after all Trump has said about women, are they suddenly surprised and offended?

Even outside the realm of misogyny, why did his disparaging marks about Latinos, Muslims, and African Americans not disqualify him from being the party’s standard bearer long ago?

That he has consistently been giving the benefit of the doubt again and again, to the extent that his VP pick just flatly denies his words ever happened, proves how acceptable these attitudes are to the Republican party until they’re staring the worst manifestation of them squarely in the face.

Take out the private microphone conversation on the bus in the leaked tape.

Watch only the video of Donald Trump and self described “apolitical” Presidential nephew/cousin and Ryan Lochte apologist Billy Bush walking with Arianne Zucker onto the set of Days of Our Lives.

Their immediate focus on her physical appearance and jockeying for opportunities for her embrace is a pathetic and disgusting spectacle on its own.

But without the preceding conversation on the bus, this tape wouldn’t raise an eyebrow among Trump’s prior supporters.

The fact is that this treatment of women as an inferior gender whose primary purpose is to serve the sexual appetites of men is central tenant to the Alabama Republican party.

Senator Jeff Session continues to be a strong Trump supporter. Photo Credit: Ryan J. Reilly/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Beyond the typical hyper-masculine attitude associated with American conservatism, the religious right’s war on sexual education has done nothing but perpetuate these attitudes in the name of “family values”.

The sort of abstinence-only sex education taught in Alabama refuses to teach our kids about the nature of consent, instead treating sex like a shameful act in which young women, trained frequently on how to say no, are the responsible gatekeepers while young men, rarely taught how to take no for an answer, are the hapless victims of their own hormonal urges.

This stigma is strong enough to drive young female victims of sexual assault to stay silent about their experiences, driven by a sense of shame and diminished self worth.

The state’s flagship college, The University of Alabama, is not immune from the sexual assault epidemic plaguing American universities, and recently announced the number of reported sexual assaults more than doubled from 2014 to 2015.

While an increase in reports could be indicative of better support programs to shed light on sexual assault rather than an increase in incidents, the school still has a long way to go.

Last month, Rebecca Walden, a woman who attended a UA football game, published a piece in the Huffington Post telling “young ladies of the SEC, cover it up!”.

She claimed female Alabama students they looked like they were at a “Victoria’s Secret fashion show” and that any sense of class they had was rendered “tasteless” by their attire.

Huffington Post has since deleted the controversial article, but not before RISE NEWS captured her indignant slut shaming that perpetuates the idea that women are not allowed to make decisions about their own sexuality.

There was no word from Ms. Walden what she thought about the young men who proudly go shirtless every game with letters painted on their chest.

WATCH: What Real “Ladies Of The SEC” Have To Say About That Slut Shaming HuffPost Piece

“Boys will be boys” should just be a permanent item on the RNC Platform.

In fact, that’s essentially Donald Trump’s response in 2013 when facing the staggering rate of sexual assaults that occur in the US Military:

“26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”

Men are left largely unaccountable for toxic behavior and women are left to deal with the consequences.

The statehouse in Montgomery, AL. Photo Credit: David Brossard/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Forty-three years after the passage of Roe V. Wade, Alabama still isn’t sold on the notion that women have autonomy over their own bodies.

The abortion battle rages on, with new legislation constructed every year finding loopholes in the decision to combat a woman’s right to chose whether she serves a purpose beyond procreation.

Trump’s past comments that women seek abortions should be punished drew some ire, but this isn’t a far cry from the already established stance of the GOP.

Many lawmakers even believe in preventing abortions in rape cases, attempting to give the sort of legislative legitimacy to sexual assault that most infamously resulted in former Congressman Todd Akin’s comments that “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

In Alabama, legislation signed this year blocks abortion clinics from being within 2,000 feet of public K-8 schools, or from performing a common method of second trimester abortions. While currently being considered by a federal judge who may block the statutes, the laws threaten the operation of the state’s four abortion clinics which serve over four million people.

This misogyny is present in stances all across the board of the Republican party:

Their anti-transgender laws, fueled by a notion that a transgendered woman who doesn’t fully conform to their notions of desired femininity doesn’t fulfill the value of a woman.
Their opposition to equal pay legislation.

Their opposition to paid maternity leave (something Trump is bizarrely progressive on by comparison.)

Their opposition to mandating employers allow contraception to be covered by health insurance.

Conservative have spent years decrying “political correctness”, but are now running for the hills when given an politically incorrect phrasing of their attitude towards women.

Make no mistake.

Sexual assault and mistreatment of women are by no means purely a conservative problem.

They exists in “progressive” realms of literature and academia.

Misogyny was seen too well by the often gendered vitriol thrown at Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman Schultz by a certain sect of Bernie Sanders supporters during the Democratic primaries.

Heroes of the new atheist movement have expressed seriously disturbing attitudes towards women.

While it doesn’t serve as any sort of defense of Trump, try as me might to leverage it, former President Bill Clinton has his own troubling history with crass behavior and sexual assault allegations.

The Alabama GOP headquarters. Photo Credit: Dystopos/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Additionally, conservatives certainly have their champions, too.

Governor Bentley’s deeply religious ex-wife, Dianne, endured her marriage well after clear evidence of infidelity by the governor to continue to push through her agenda giving stronger support to domestic violence victims in Alabama.

But despite the actions of these individuals, you’d be hard pressed to find an organization in America where misogyny such an unabashed, central theme as it is in the Republican party.

Barring the impossible, it seems Trump will lose in November. But that’s not enough to stem the right’s war on women, and all of those who have stood by him until now should not suddenly be able to jump ship without being taken down too.

Denouncing Trump is an absolute necessity, but it’s not enough to hide how they’ve enabled him until now, or to rescue the heart of dixie from its politicized misogyny.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: Vicky van Santen/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

It Doesn’t Matter That Ted Cruz Broke The “Pledge”

By James Kardys

If you paid attention to the news in any amount whatsoever during the Republican national convention, you are probably aware that on the third night (July 20), Ted Cruz gave a speech where not only did he decline to formally endorse Donald Trump, but implicitly told voters not to vote for him if it violated their conscience.

Not surprisingly, this speech prompted much outrage from the party.

He was booed offstage.

Former allies such as Sarah Palin said that his career was over.

Rick Perry and Dan Patrick (the lieutenant governor of Texas) have been mentioned as possible primary opponents against Cruz when he runs for re-election in the Senate in 2018.

Donald Trump is reportedly so embittered that not only does he not want Cruz’s endorsement should he change his mind, and has talked about funding SuperPACs against him and John Kasich, who also refused to endorse, in future elections they run in.

Ted Cruz himself has since explained his reasoning behind his decision to not endorse Trump, saying that he is “not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my father.”

That, in his opinion, invalidated the pledge that all the candidates signed to support the eventual nominee back in September.

Or did it?

I am a Republican who supported Ted Cruz for the nomination prior to him dropping out on May 3.

As I saw many of my fellow Cruz supporters turn into former supporters over his decision not to endorse, I struggled to figure out whether I should do the same.

I sympathized with the content of his speech (so much, that the Trump-sponsored vicious reaction to his statements, which included emphasis on the importance of preserving the Constitution and the idea that voters must vote according to what they believe is best for our freedoms, prompted me to decide to vote third party even though I’m a registered Republican), but I wondered whether he should be judged for apparently failing to keep his word.

I eventually decided that he should not be judged regarding the so-called “pledge.” Why? Because the pledge was invalidated into non-existence in deed. Not by Cruz, but by Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party.

As I thought about how to respond, I remembered an event that took place on March 29, 2015, when Donald Trump also renounced the pledge at the CNN Town Hall event that evening.

According to Time, Trump’s decision to renounce the pledge violated the terms that would have made him eligible to be on the ballots in states that required a loyalty pledge.

This could have caused him to forfeit his delegates in such states that had already voted at the time, such as South Carolina.

That didn’t happen, and the question is, why?

Why didn’t Reince Priebus follow through with his own rules, especially considering that as a leader of the GOP establishment, Trump’s downfall perhaps would have benefited him?

I can’t say for sure, but I would not rule out the idea Priebus’ decision not to penalize Trump was related to his belief that Trump can make deals.

After all, he and Trump had no problem making deals (abeit, indirectly via a coalition of Trump supporters and establishment figures in the Republican National Committee) that threw out proposed amendments to the convention rules that would have limited the power of the party chair, and redistributed it in the hands of lower-ranking members who could have affected the outcome of the development of the party platform, if not the convention itself.

Regardless of Priebus’ motivations, his actions do not reflect kindly on the reputation of the party, which, based on them, has been attacking Cruz based on a false premise.

A pledge that is not enforced is not a pledge. It is a joke.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

This Republican Congressman Just Admitted On Live TV That Harsh Voter ID Laws Will Help His Party

By Staff Report

Many Democrats have called foul on tough Voter ID laws passed in the past few years by Republican state legislatures. And now it seems like they might be on to something.

One of the toughest new ID laws was passed in Wisconsin, and a GOP Congressman said in a live TV interview on Tuesday night that he believed that the law will help his party win the state during the general election.

Glenn Grothman (R-WS) told TMJ4’s Charles Benson that he thought the new law would help the Republicans win the state for the first time since 1984. It was a pretty blunt answer, and probably one of the most truthful one’s about the law so far.

WATCH:

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us!

Here’s The Ugly Truth About Conservative Talk Radio

By Contributor

This article was originally published on agconservative.wordpress.com and is republished below with permission from the author.

By @AG_Conservative

When I first got on Twitter, I was a big fan of conservative Talk Radio. I knew several people who became huge advocates for conservatism only after listening to Rush Limbaugh.

I doubt there were many converts from Hannity or Levin (despite L & T being one of my favorite books), but I assumed it was always a good thing to have people with large audiences promoting conservatism.

However, over time, I started to notice a theme: These hosts were often more dedicated to promoting outrage than conservatism.

Sometimes the outrage was justified and helped bring about necessary action, but it was the other times that started to bother me. Most importantly, it seemed the more victories conservatives won, the more these hosts preached despair.

The Republican Party was adopting conservatism to a greater extent than ever before, but these hosts constantly tried to make it seem like things were worse than ever.

Most importantly, they would create the impression that we were always losing by latching on to misinformation and spin.

I would see the same pattern play out constantly. Random blogger misinterprets something or reports a rumor that makes R’s look bad, radio hosts seizes on it and promotes it as proof of Republican betrayal, rumor turns our false or exaggerated, host moves on to the next cycle.

Even the liberal media, which these hosts would often attack as dishonest, would issue corrections, but these hosts seemed to have no interest in the truth.

At this point, I still believed these shows were a net positive, but I also recognized that these hosts were making millions from stoking unnecessary outrage.

This is when I personally gave up listening. These hosts were abusing the trust their audiences placed in them and treating their audience like they are dumb.

Before I go on, let me give a few examples of this phenomenon:

1) After the Boston bombing, Glenn Beck spent months accusing an innocent Saudi kid of being responsible and the Obama admin of covering it up. He based this on an early report about the kid being at the scene.

Every time Beck would provide some new bombshell piece of evidence to prove his theory, I would debunk it with some basic research.

However, every time I would post such a debunking, Beck fans would viciously attack me for questioning him. They weren’t interested in the truth.

As far as I know, Beck never apologized for this accusations. He simply moved on to the next story.

2) One example relevant to today is the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill. I wanted immigration reform, but was wary about this bill given what had happened under Reagan.

I ended up being one of the few people who actually read the whole bill, which made it easy to recognize when someone was saying something false.

There was a period of several months where on almost a daily basis some blogger would misinterpret something or some rumor would come out about the bill, Drudge would promote it, talk radio would seize on it and tell their audience to get outraged, it would be debunked in the days that followed, talk radio would move on to the next controversy without correcting, and their listeners would repeat the debunked rumor for months.

I found this particularly frustrating because there were plenty of real issues with the bill. I ended up opposing it, even though it wasn’t nearly as bad as it is currently perceived among most conservatives. It probably was the best we could have done with a Dem Senate and a Dem President, but I figured we would be better off waiting for a Republican to be in the WH.

There are hundreds more examples of this pattern. It has become fairly common. I still see it all the time. Breitbart, for example, has several reporters that consistently and purposefully print false things about Marco Rubio. Talk radio spreads them without even attempting to confirm.

It bothers me to see fellow conservatives who rely on and trust these sources being deceived in this way.

I was silent about all this, but these last 4-6 months were the final line for me and many other informed conservatives.

Talk radio actively started defending and advocating for someone that is the antithesis of everything conservatism stands for, Donald Trump.

It was one thing for these hosts to hinder conservative wins by saying they weren’t good enough, but now they were promoting the exact opposite of conservatism.

Trump is a con man. His con is aimed at a lot of different group, but the only way he could win conservatives is with assistance from people conservatives actually trust. These hosts chose to give it.

The two biggest issues for conservatives over the last few years were healthcare and the debt.

While these hosts attacked Republicans for not being aggressive enough on fighting Obamacare, they stay silent as Trump promotes single-payer.

While these hosts attacked Republicans for not fighting hard enough to limit Obama’s deficit spending, they stay silent as Trump opposes and demagogues entitlement reform.

These hosts were willing to completely abandon conservatism, and dragged their audiences with them. For me, that was the final straw.

I was silent about their previous dishonesty, but I won’t be as they make a mockery out of the beliefs they claim to represent.

It may not matter what I think, but conservatives shouldn’t be prone to group think. They shouldn’t define conservatism by what Rush, Levin, or Hannity say. Especially when those hosts keep saying things that are dishonest.

It’s time people who care about conservatism actually took a stand against the frauds in our midst. I know I am doing my part, and I hope you will too.

Read the original post on agconservative.wordpress.com

Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Why The Republican Party Is So Out Of Touch With Reality On Climate Change

By Contributor

By Nicholas Olivera

In mid-December, leaders from 195 countries came to an historic agreement in Paris about how to address the global crisis of climate change. The agreement was heralded as a pathbreaking moment for both international diplomacy and the scientific consensus concerning climate change.

Back home in America however, things felt a bit differently, as they often do.

A week after the historic agreement, President Barack Obama mocked Republicans for their continued failure to recognize climate change as a real issue.

“The American Republican party is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change,” Obama said according to the Guardian.

According to a recent Pew survey, only 27% of Republicans believe that global warming is mostly an issue caused mostly by human activity.

Only a couple of the Republican presidential candidates have expressed the belief that global climate change is a man-made threat.

Former governor of New York George Pataki has openly acknowledged his stance on climate, saying during October’s GOP debate: “It is not appropriate to think that human activity — putting CO2 into the atmosphere –doesn’t make the Earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It is uncontroverted.”

Pataki has spent some time working towards a cleaner environment, having served as co-chair of the Independent Task Force on Global Climate Change, an independent commission dedicated to preventing climate change.

The group even issued a report back in June of 2008 making market-friendly recommendations in order to cut carbon emissions 60 to 80 percent by the year 2050.

And while Pataki is a staunch believer in climate change there’s no mention of it on his campaign website.

Why would a candidate with so much passion for the issue of climate change leave it out of their campaign?

“The fact that it isn’t being talked about very much by the rest of the candidates doesn’t surprise me,” Dr. David Woodard, a professor of political science at Clemson University and former consultant of Republican candidates told RISE NEWS. “I have found that other candidates have gotten a lot more mileage by bringing up the terrorist issues.”

Six of the remaining dozen candidates have dismissed the issue entirely.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has said in the past that he believes that climate change is nothing more than an excuse for “more government control of your life.”

Texas senator Ted Cruz asserts that climate change was simply concocted by “power-greedy politicians.”

And of course Donald Trump has made his beliefs concerning the issue known in a rather vulgar way.

This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2014

The remaining candidates are caught somewhere in the middle; each of them have publicly expressed a mixture of doubt, hesitancy, and skepticism in regards to climate change.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie has acknowledged the existence of global climate change but argues that the degree to which human activity contributes to it is up for debate.

Former governor of Virginia Jim Gilmore (yes, he is still running) claims to need more proof as to whether or not it is a man-made issue. Even former governor of Florida Jeb Bush has expressed his skepticism.

But chances are this is an issue that won’t pick up traction within the GOP nomination contest this year.

“I don’t think it’s an important issue this year given the events in California along with other terrorist attacks,” Woodard said. “The other candidates are going with the more hot-button issues where they get the most press attention and conflict with their peers.”

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Cover Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Survey/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

“Can I Shit In Your Mouth?”: C-SPAN Caller Asks Crazy Question To GOP Congressman

By Rich Robinson

So this happened this morning on C-SPAN. Congressman Dave Brat (R-VA) got quite the question thrown at him during a live call in show.

WATCH: C-SPAN caller asks crazy question to Congressman. (Video from TPM)

H/T: Political Wire

Cover Photo Credit: Roll Call/ Youtube (Screengrab)

Lindsey Graham Is So Sick Of The GOP Right Now

By Rich Robinson

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is running for president and he isn’t doing very well. That’s probably best demonstrated by the fact you just had to copy/paste and Google search “Sen. Lindsey Graham.”

Graham, who is next in line of the totally nationally successful McCain and Lieberman triumvirate spoke at the highly anticipated Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, D.C. today.

Graham’s speech was something else. Part attack on Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, part doom and gloom lecture on the failings of the Republican party, Graham’s address made quite the impression in the room.

“It’s not about turning out evangelical Christians, it’s about repairing the damage done by incredibly hateful rhetoric driving a wall between us and the fastest-growing demographic in America,” Graham said according to Jezebel, referencing Trump. “It’s about looking Hispanic Americans in the eye and saying, ‘We get it, be part of our cause.”

But it was Graham’s comments on the GOP at large that has many people buzzing.

From CNN’s report of the speech:

“He took issue with Cruz’s preceding remarks that Republicans need to vote in strength, and low turnout is why the party failed to win in 2008 and 2012.

“How many of you believe we’re losing elections because we’re not hard-ass enough on immigration?’ Graham asked the crowd, to light applause. ‘Well, I don’t agree with you.'”

WATCH: Lindsey Graham bashes hardline conservatives on immigration and abortion

Graham also questioned hardline conservatives on the issue of abortion, saying that the party needed to support an exception in the case that a woman was raped.

Otherwise, the party would continue to be alienate the “majority” of the county on the abortion issue.

H/T: The Hill

Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

If House And Senate Don’t Agree, Could There Be A Government Shutdown Over Syrian Refugee Program Changes?

By Jeffrey Fernandez

The unfortunate recent terror attacks in Paris have led to more than half-31 to be precise of the nation’s governors to declare that they will refuse entry to Syrian refugees into their states.

Florida’s governor, Rick Scott among others had gone so far as to request House Republicans push a bill through Congress to prevent Syrian refugees from entering his state.

On Nov. 19^th, the governors’ wishes was granted. The House passed the SAFE Act, with an overwhelming 289-137 vote, enough to override a veto, which President Obama has already said he would do if the bill were to pass the Senate.

The SAFE act wouldn’t stop Syrian refugees from entering the United States, however, it could place a very long pause on the current Syrian refugee program.

The act would add an extra screening process in the already extensive, 18-24 months, vetting procedure refugees must go through before placement in the country by requiring the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and Director of National Intelligence personally sign off on each refugee granted entry.

Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are also offering their own alternative to the SAFE Act, which would place limitations on the visa waiver program by refusing eligibility to individuals who have traveled to Syria or Iraq in the past five years, the real question is whether the Senate will be able to block the House’s bill from passing before their alternative can get off the ground.

It’s also possible the House and Senate and the bipartisan coalitions in each will reach a stalemate. If you keep in mind the fact the next government budget deadline is Dec. 11^th, then it wouldn’t be completely out of place for House Republicans, (with perhaps some Democratic support) to threaten another government shutdown in order to pass the SAFE Act. In fact, it is entirely possible.

Cover Photo Credit: Freedom House/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Florida State Rep. Shares Facebook Photo That Questions Obama’s Christianity

By Rich Robinson

Florida House Rep. Frank Artiles stepped into hot-water Wednesday after he shared a Facebook photo from a fellow conservative that questions President Barack Obama’s Christian faith.

The post which was posted on a pro Benjamin Netanyahu Facebook group was then shared by Artiles.

The photo uses five examples of what the world looks like “According to Liberal America”. There are references to Caitlyn Jenner, Rachel Dolezal and the #IStandWithAhmed movement.

But the most controversial photo is the first one. It is a photo that first circulated during the 2008 Democratic Primary campaign and it shows Obama dressed as a Somali Elder during his visit to Kenya in 2006. Obama campaign staffers blamed the Clinton campaign for the photo’s publication in the Drudge Report.

“According to Liberal America… This is a Christian,” the caption says of Obama.

Here is a better version of the photo in question:

Obama is a Christian and has spoken at length about the importance of his faith.

Artiles is a Republican who represents parts of Miami in the Florida House of Representatives. He came to prominence earlier this year after filing legislation to ban transgender people from public bathrooms.

A message sent to Artiles’ private Facebook page was not answered by publication of this piece. A spokesperson in Artiles’ Tallahassee office said she would pass along Rise News‘ inquiry to Artiles.

Like this piece? Rise News just launched a few weeks ago and is only getting started. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with global news. Have a news tip? (No matter how big or small!) Send it to us- [email protected]

Cover Photo Credit: Screenshot (Rep. Frank Artiles Facebook)

Snarky Obama Bashes Republicans For Weakness In Handling CNBC Debate, Says They Couldn’t Deal With Putin

By Staff Report

President Barack Obama made fun of the Republican candidates for President for their complaining over perceived unfairness in the last GOP primary debate hosted by CNBC.

“Every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak, Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s going to straighten out,'” Obama said to a group of Democratic Party supporters at a fundraiser in New York City Monday. “And then it turns out, they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators. If you can’t handle those guys, I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.”

Obama also used humor to defend his record in numerous area including on climate change where he said that opposition to climate science would be like ignoring the advice of 99 out of 100 doctors.

WATCH: Snarky Obama attacks GOP over “weakness” (Video: NBC News)

Cover Photo Credit: Steve Jurvetson/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)